Sandoz, a key player in generic and biosimilar medicines, on Thursday announced the issuance of three highly successful inaugural Eurobonds, with total gross proceeds of EUR 2.0 billion.
Following a debut transaction in CHF last month, this issuance marks the entry of Sandoz into the EUR debt capital market. Today’s issuance, through subsidiary Sandoz Finance B.V., turned out to be equally successful and concludes the company’s immediate refinancing needs post spin-off, the company said in a statement.
“These inaugural bonds represent a further milestone for Sandoz, establishing us firmly as a new issuer in the EUR bond market and creating a diversified and well-balanced financing profile from a currency and maturity perspective,” Colin Bond, Sandoz CFO said in a statement.
The bonds carry fixed coupons of 3.97%, 4.22% and 4.50%, with tenors of 3.5, 6.5 and 10 years, maturing in 2027, 2030 and 2033, respectively.
The proceeds, together with those from last month’s CHF issuance, will be used for the repayment of the EUR 2.4 billion bridge loan and for general corporate purposes.
Sandoz continues to target a net debt to core EBITDA ratio of 1.7 to 2.0 and to maintain its solid investment grade rating.
Sandoz is rated Baa2 (stable outlook) by Moody’s and BBB (stable outlook) by S&P, and both agencies are expected to rate the bonds with ratings of Baa2 and BBB, respectively.
The transaction was led by BNP Paribas, J.P. Morgan and Mizuho as Active Bookrunners; Advestra and Linklaters acted as legal advisors to Sandoz.
