FCC Aqualia, the FCC Group subsidiary specialising in integral water management, has successfully closed the process of issuing two simple bonds for a total amount of €1,350 million (US$1,511 million).

The issue enables FCC Group to amortise €1,100 million of existing financing - including the full cancellation of the section convertible into FCC shares, and of the warrants associated with that convertible section.

The bonds, one for the amount of €700,000,000 with an annual remuneration of 1.413% and the other of €650,000,000 with an annual remuneration of 2.629%, mature in 2020 and 2027, respectively, and have real guarantees on certain assets of the FCC Aqualia group. The bonds have been admitted for negotiation in the unregulated market (Global Exchange Market) on the Irish Stock Exchange. 

The bond issue also allows FCC Group to conclude the re-financing of the remainder of its syndicated debt. In this sense, a re-financing agreement was reached on 28 February that has the participation of all the affected creditor organisations. It involves the complete novation of the existing financing for a new long-term credit facility for FCC Group for which the group of companies headed by FCC Aqualia ceases to be an obligated party.

The main features of this re-financing include the amount, the sections, the rate of interest and the maturity.

The total pending amount is set at €2,168,568,006.31. The sections are divided into four, section A for the amount of €288,088,506.07, section B for the amount of €1,455,479,500.24, section C for the amount of €125,000,000 euros, these first three having the nature of a mercantile loan, and section D for the amount of €300,000,000 euros, which has a revolving credit.

The rate of interest applied is EURIBOR plus a differential of 2.30%, which may be reduced to 2% according to the leverage ratio.

CEO of FCC Group, Carlos M. Jarque, stated:

“FCC Group has made substantial progress in optimising and re-ordering its remaining bank debt. The operation completed by FCC Aqualia will give the group greater financial efficiency, allowing it to continue to progress and grow in its various activities." The issue was widely welcomed by investors to the point at which the total volume of demand exceeded the target issue amounts by several times.

"For FCC, 2016 was a year of intense work that has contributed to improving the financial results and our competitive capabilities," adding, "in the first quarter of 2017, the Group’s EBITDA reached a growth of 12.7%, €173 million, a result that reflects the sustained growth of the operational profitability of the various business areas."