Loan Refinancing
Wolseley PLC
08 June 2006
Loan Refinancing
----------------
Wolseley plc, the world's largest specialist trade distributor of plumbing and
heating products to professional contractors and a leading supplier of building
materials, announces a new €2.8 billion syndicated loan facility, which was
signed on Friday 2nd June 2006. The proceeds will be used for general corporate
purposes, initially repaying existing facilities totalling some €1.23 billion.
The new facility is a single 5-year, multicurrency, revolving credit facility.
The syndication was originally targeted at €2.0 billion and was heavily
subscribed with commitments over €3.0 billion being received; the facility was
eventually scaled back to €2.8 billion. A group of 27 banks committed to the
facility, and will form the core of Wolseley's relationship banks going forward.
Wolseley Group Treasurer, Mike Verrier, said:
'This successful syndication follows on from our record breaking US$1.2 billion
private placement late last year and again demonstrates that Wolseley is
recognised as a strong investment partner, with a proven track record.'
Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking and
Lloyds TSB acted as Bookrunners on the transaction and The Royal Bank of
Scotland acted as agent.
Certain statements included in this announcement may be forward-looking and may
involve risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward looking
statements. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, projections
relating to results of operations and financial conditions and the Company's
plans and objectives for future operations including, without limitation,
discussions of the Company's business and financial plans, expected future
revenues and expenditures, investments and disposals, risks associated with
changes in economic conditions, the strength of the plumbing and heating and
building materials market in North America and Europe, fluctuations in product
prices and changes in exchange and interest rates. All forward-looking
statements in this respect are based upon information known to the Company on
the date of this announcement. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly
update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise. It is not reasonably possible to
itemise all of the many factors and events that could cause the Company's
forward-looking statements to be incorrect or that could otherwise have a
material adverse effect on the future operations or results of the Company.
Notes to Editors
Wolseley plc
Wolseley plc is the world's largest specialist trade distributor of plumbing and
heating products and a leading supplier of building materials to professional
contractors in North America, the UK and Continental Europe. Group sales for the
year ended 31 July 2005 were approximately £11.3 billion and operating profit,
before goodwill, was £721 million. Wolseley has more than 67,000 employees
operating in 14 countries namely: UK, USA, France, Canada, Ireland, Italy, The
Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Belgium, Luxembourg
and Denmark. Wolseley is listed on the London and New York Stock Exchanges (LSE:
WOS.L, NYSE: WOS) and is in the FTSE 100 index of listed companies.
Enquiries:
Media: Wolseley plc T: +44 (0) 118 929 8886
Penny Studholme M: +44 (0) 7860 553834
Corporate Communications Director
-----------------------
Brunswick T: +44 (0) 20 7404 5959
Andrew Fenwick
Nina Coad
-----------------------
Investor / Analysts: Wolseley plc T: +44 (0)118 929 8744
Guy Stainer M: +44 (0) 7739 778187
Head of Investor Relations
-----------------------
Barclays Capital BNP Paribas
Nigel Pavey Simon Allocca
+44 20 7773 3048 +44 20 7595 6562
Citigroup Lloyds TSB
Andrew Man Liz Williams
+44 20 7986 2356 +44 20 7356 1651
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange