St. Louis-based Ralcorp, a maker of store-brand foods, rolled two credit facilities into a new three-year, $275 million revolver, led by BANK ONE and Wachovia Bank. Thomas Granneman, v.p., and controller, said Ralcorp had two facilities maturing in January and April next year. BANK ONE has been the lead bank for several years and Wachovia has also been a lead arranger for the company on the last few credits. Ralcorp did not put out to bid the lead arranger slots, but looked informally at several banks, Granneman noted, declining to name them. "There was a range in what the banks were offering," he said, declining to elaborate, but ultimately the existing relationships were most important. He declined comment on the spread on the old or new loans.
Other lenders on the credit are U.S. Bank, PNC Bank and SunTrust Bank as co-documentation agents and CoBank, Commerce Bank, and Harris Trust as lenders. The credit can be increased by up to $100 million, Granneman said. The proceeds from the facility are for general and working capital needs including repurchases of its stock and acquisitions of new businesses. The new revolver replaces a $200 million line, priced at LIBOR plus 11/ 4%, and a $125 million bridge facility. With such a large revolver it made sense to unify it, Granneman noted.