NCR Corp., a technology company with 2001 revenue of nearly USD6 billion, is considering entering its first interest-rate swap in more than 10 years. An official at the company in Dayton, Ohio said the Standard & Poor's 500 Index component is in discussions with various banks about entering a swap, in which it would convert a fixed-rate bond it sold recently into a floating-rate liability. It issued the seven-year USD300 million bond last month with a 7.125% coupon. Bank One Capital Markets and Salomon Smith Barney underwrote the transaction.
The official declined further comment about the Rule 144a transaction or the pending swap, except to say the company is considering entering its first swap in years now simply because this is its first debt offering as an independent company in more than 10 years. AT&T acquired NCR in 1991 before spinning it off in 1997. NCR had used interest-rate swaps to manage its rate exposure in its own capacity prior to the acquisition, according to another official.
The acronym NCR derives from National Cash Register, the original name of the company, which produced the first mechanical cash registers in the 19th century.
