AssiDoman, Sweden's leading forest products company, is signing a euro1 billion ($1.09 billion) Euro-MTN programme. A launch date at the end of Spring is planned, with an inaugural issue off the facility expected soon after. The aim of the programme is to attract international investors to the credit and to streamline its public and private issuance documentation under one facility. It also gives the issuer the flexibility to access Asian markets. Merrill Lynch has beaten off stiff competition to be chosen as programme arranger. Johan Lagercrantz, group treasurer, AssiDoman, says: "Merrill Lynch is well placed to arrange our programme given its long-established presence in the market. But it was a very close race and a hard decision to make." The borrower promises to be consistently active in the market this year. Its preference initially will be for plain vanilla deals with maturities of between five and 10 years. Although open to a range of currencies, the borrower will predominantly fund itself in euros. AssiDoman, operates over 90 facilities in countries such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy and France. It is one of the largest pulp and paper companies in Europe. Its quite substantial asset base includes 3.3 million hectares of forest land, which is enough to cover an area the size of Belgium. It joins its rival, Metsa Serla, who signed last year. Standard and Poor's rates AssiDoman's senior long-term debt A- and a senior long-term debt rating is also expected from Moody's in the near future. This rating is a good grading for a borrower in an industry which is known for being cyclical in nature and therefore more open to uncertainty. Lagercrantz, at AssiDoman, says: "Our rating is a very strong one for our industry. On top of that, we have substantial hidden values in our forest land." Dealers off the programme are ABN Amro, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Salomon Smith Barney, SEB, Warburg Dillon Read and the arranger.
December 08, 2000
