Corporate News
Munich, 11 May 2010 - The Linde Group announced today that it has signed a five-year syndicated revolving credit facility in an amount of EUR 2.5 bn. The new facility replaces the existing syndicated BOC acquisition facility dated 2006 as well as the forward start credit facility signed last year. The new credit line will be the company's primary liquidity source from banks and benefits from substantially improved market conditions for syndicated loans since beginning of this year.
"This new syndicated credit facility contains much better terms supported by the recent rating upgrades of Standard & Poor´s and Moody´s. The further strengthened financing security of The Linde Group until 2015 is an essential instrument for sustainable entrepreneurial management, which is even more important in a volatile market environment. We highly appreciate the continuing strong support from our banking group", stated Georg Denoke, member of the Executive Board and CFO of Linde AG.
The transaction received a very good reception in the market, 25 of Linde's core national and international relationship banks are participating in the facility. The very good support for this deal enabled Linde to increase the facility amount. Despite this increase in facility size, participant banks' commitments were considerably scaled back.
Linde's long-term corporate credit rating with Standard & Poor's is A- (stable outlook). The senior unsecured debt rating with Moody's is A3 (stable outlook).
The Linde Group is a world leading gases and engineering company with almost 48,000 employees working in more than 100 countries worldwide. In the 2009 financial year it achieved sales of EUR 11.2 billion. The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards sustainable earnings-based growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services. Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment - in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. Linde is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development.
For more information, see The Linde Group online at http://www.linde.com
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