Abertis has closed a 10-year, €1.15 billion (US$1.3 billion) bonds issue maturing in May 2026, which is the biggest corporate bond issue in the company’s history.  

The bonds, that have been sold among international qualified investors, have a annual fixed coupon of 1.375%, the lowest in Abertis’ history and among the lowest compared with other long-term issuances by the main Spanish companies. The issue, which has closed with a 95bps margin over mid swap, is 15 bps below the Spanish Treasury Bond.

The issue, which has been the biggest in the day and one of the biggest Spanish corporate issuances in 2016, registered an oversubscription that doubled the offer. 95% of buyers are from outside Spain. Its net proceeds will be mainly used to refinance short term maturity debt and other corporate uses.  

The issue allows the company to extend the debt’s maturity profile, deliver on its active balance sheet management strategy and illustrate the company’s ability to finance itself at attractive conditions and continue creating value for its shareholders.

Since 2014, Abertis has completed debt refinancing deals –both corporate and on its subsidiaries– for a total amount of €5 billion. After this issue, the average corporate debt maturity profile extends to 7.8 years compared to 5.38 years in December 2013. In addition, the average cost of the corporate debt reduces to 3.2% from 4.15% (December 2013).

In the last months, major operations include the refinancing of Metropistas’ debt (Puerto Rico) for €320 million or the issues by HIT and Sanef in France, for €200 million and €600 million, respectively.

The last issue of corporate debt by the Group was in June 2014, when Abertis issued 10-year bonds for a total amount of €700 million, with a 2.25% coupon.