Issue of Debt

Compagnie de Saint-Gobain 03 November 2006 November 3, 2006. Press release SUCCESSFULL LAUNCH OF A DUAL-TRANCHE STG 600 MILLION BOND OFFERING CONSISTING OF - A STG 300 Mn tranche, 10-year maturity, annual coupon of 5.625% - A STG 300 Mn tranche, 18-year maturity, annual coupon of 5.625% Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, whose long-term senior debt is rated BBB+ by Standard & Poor's and Baa1 by Moody's, set yesterday the terms of its new benchmark bond issue denominated in Sterling. The dual-tranche issue was very well received by investors. Due to the importance and quality of the investor demand (orderbook over STG 2.8 Bn), the respective spreads at launch were below the initial price-guidance, and the final size of the bond issue was increased from initial £500Mn to £600Mn. This transaction underlines bond investors' confidence in the credit quality of Saint-Gobain, whose last issuance on the Sterling bond market was in 2001. Placement was made across a diversified basis of investors mainly in the UK. Amongst those investors, asset managers accounted for 44% and 46% of allocations respectively for the 10 and 18-year tranche, insurance companies and pension funds 29% and 38%, and banks 16% and 8%. This transaction was launched mainly to refinance part of the Group debt after the acquisition of British PlasterBoard end 2005, and lengthen the average debt maturity of the Group. Indeed, the new 18-year tranche is the longest bond issue ever launched by Compagnie de Saint-Gobain. Barclays Capital, HSBC Bank and The Royal Bank of Scotland acted as lead managers for this bond issue. Investor Relations department Florence Triou-Teixeira Tel.: +33 1 47 62 45 19 Alexandre Etuy Tel.: +33 1 47 62 37 15 Fax: +33 1 47 62 50 62 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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