Sibanye corporate bond offer snapped up
SIBANYE Gold said yesterday it had successfully completed a $1.05 billion (R13.7bn) international corporate bond offering, which was about two times oversubscribed.
This signals the latest vote of confidence for the takeover of the Stillwater Mining Company by the world’s third largest platinum producer.
Last month, Sibanye completed the acquisition of Stillwater, the US’s sole provider of platinum and palladium, for $2.2bn in a bid to create a premier global precious metals miner.
Sibanye said the bonds comprised two tranches of a $500 million five-year note that would carry a 6.125 percent coupon and a $550m eight-year note that would carry a 7.125 percent coupon.
The proceeds of the bond offering, which will settle on June 27, will be applied to the partial repayment of the bridge loan raised for the acquisition of Stillwater, and follows the successful $1bn rights issue, which closed earlier this month.
Sibanye said Citi, HSBC and Barclays acted as global co-ordinators on the transaction and were joined by Credit Suisse and Standard Bank as bookrunners.
Sibanye chief executive Neal Froneman said the significant interest in and support of Sibanye’s first corporate bond issuance was heartening, especially following the recent, heavily oversubscribed $1bn rights offer.
“The bond offering was approximately two times oversubscribed and closed following a relatively short, two-day bookbuild.
“The support from global investors for Sibanye’s equity rights and corporate bond offerings is a significant vote of confidence in the future prospects of Sibanye,” Froneman said.
“The capital raised through these successful transactions, following the conclusion of the transformative Stillwater acquisition, will ensure an appropriate long-term capital structure.”
Sibanye on Monday secured a twoyear wage deal with the United Steelworkers of America, the representative union at Stillwater.