Extended Bank Facilities on Improved Terms

RNS Number : 1792P

First Derivatives PLC

06 February 2019

 

6 February 2019

First Derivatives plc

("FD" or the "Group")

Extended Bank Facilities on Improved Terms

FD (AIM: FDP.L, ESM: FDP.I) announces that it has agreed extended bank facilities totalling £130m to provide the Group with flexibility in support of its growth plans. The facilities comprise a term loan of £65m and a revolving loan facility of £65m.

The five-year facilities will refinance the Group's existing borrowings and will be partly used to finance the acquisition of the minority shareholding in Kx Systems, due to be made on 29 June 2019. The term loan and the revolving loan facility will have an interest rate for the first 12 months of LIBOR plus 2.75%. Following this, an interest rate ratchet will apply from LIBOR plus 2.00% to LIBOR plus 3.00% depending on the level of debt relative to EBITDA. This represents an improvement on current terms where the interest rate payable varies from LIBOR plus 2.25% to LIBOR plus 3.50%.

The lead arranger for the bank facilities is Bank of Ireland with participation from Barclays, First Trust Bank and Silicon Valley Bank.

Dale Guest, Director of Corporate Banking NI, Bank of Ireland commented: "FD is a fantastic business and Bank of Ireland is very proud to have supported it from the very early stages in its development through to its current position as a global leader. This new syndicate funding package provides the foundation for the business to continue its growth strategy and we wish FD every success."

Brian Conlon, Chief Executive Officer of FD, commented: "I would like to thank Bank of Ireland, Barclays, First Trust Bank and Silicon Valley Bank for their support and for sharing our confidence in the Group's future prospects. The extended bank facilities provide certainty regarding our funding requirements and the flexibility, should it be required, to act quickly to advance our growth plans."

Enquiries

For further information please contact:

First Derivatives plc Brian Conlon, Chief Executive Officer Graham Ferguson, Chief Financial Officer Ian Mitchell, Head of Investor Relations	[phone] www.firstderivatives.com
Investec Bank plc (Nominated Adviser and Broker) Andrew Pinder Carlton Nelson Sebastian Lawrence	[phone]
Goodbody (ESM Adviser and Broker) Linda Hickey Finbarr Griffin	[phone]
FTI Consulting Matt Dixon Dwight Burden Darius Alexander Niamh Fogarty	[phone]

About FD

FD is a global technology provider with 20 years of experience working with some of the world's largest finance, technology, retail, pharma, manufacturing and energy institutions. The Group's Kx technology, incorporating the kdb+ time-series database, is a leader in high-performance, in-memory computing, streaming analytics and operational intelligence. Kx delivers the best possible performance and flexibility for high-volume, data-intensive analytics and applications across multiple industries. FD operates from 14 offices across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, including its headquarters in Newry, and employs more than 2,600 people worldwide.

For further information, please visit www.firstderivatives.com and www.kx.com

 

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