Pinault Printemps Redoute, an international luxury goods company, has entered an interest rate swap to convert part of the proceeds from a recently issued six year EUR750million (USD859 million) bond into floating. Juliette Psaume, a spokeswoman, said that it was an internal accounting decision to have part of the liability at a fixed interest rate and part in floating rate. The swap and the bond mature in 2009.
In the swap, PPR receives a fixed rate and pays a floating rate based on three-month Euribor. ABN AMRO, Barclays Capital, Crédit Agricole Indosuez and Natexis Banques Populaires were the bookrunners on the bond. Psaume declined to name the swap counterparties.
The bond was used to lengthen the maturity of the company's debt portfolio as well as diversifying its finances.
