Following two successfully placed bonds, Continental is planning to issue further Eurobonds with benchmark volume. The international automotive supplier once again mandated a bank consortium led by Citi and The Royal Bank of Scotland to place two tranches of euro-denominated bonds with qualified investors in Germany and abroad. The bank consortium further includes Commerzbank, Goldman Sachs, ING, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg and UniCredit Bank as bookrunners. A maximum issue volume of ?1.25 billion and two tranches with maturities in 2016 and 2018 are planned. The issue volume and the conditions are expected to be finalized in the next few days, the company announced in Hanover today.
“In our communication with existing and potential investors, we received the feedback that there continues to be strong demand for Continental bonds. The bonds we have already placed were also significantly oversubscribed”, said Continental CFO Wolfgang Schäfer. “In response to this continued strong demand, we have decided to issue further bonds with timing in close connection to the predecessors. This will help us to quickly achieve our goal of significantly improving the maturity profile. We will again use the issue proceeds for the par-tial, early repayment of our bank liabilities. This bond issue will be the last bond transaction of 2010.”
The structure of these bonds is largely the same as the secured bonds issued in July and September of this year with a volume of ?750 million and EUR 1 billion, respectively. The minimum denominations for this bond will again be ?50,000.
The bond will be issued by Conti-Gummi Finance B.V. (Netherlands) and guaranteed by Continental AG and certain of its subsidiaries. It will be listed on the Open Market (Freiverkehr) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange as well as the Hamburg and Hanover stock exchanges.
This announcement does not contain or constitute an offer of, or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for, securities to any person in Australia, Canada, Japan, or the United States of America (the “United States”) or in any jurisdiction to whom or in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful. The securities referred to herein may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) or another exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act. Subject to certain exceptions, the securities referred to herein may not be offered or sold in Australia, Canada or Japan or to, or for the account or benefit of, any national, resident or citizen of Australia, Canada or Japan. The offer and sale of the securities referred to herein has not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act or under the applicable securities laws of Australia, Canada or Japan. There will be no public offer of the securities in any jurisdiction.
This document was prepared on the basis that an offer of bearer bonds in a member state of the European Economic Area (EEA) that has implemented the prospectus directive (2003/71/EC) (in each case, a “relevant member state”) may only take place in accordance with a clause, in the prospectus directive as implemented in the relevant member state, exempting from the need to publish a prospectus for the offer. Accordingly, persons who make an offer of bearer bonds to which this press release relates in a relevant member state or who intend to make such an offer may only do so under circumstances in which Continental is not obliged to publish a prospectus as per Article 3 of the prospectus directive or a prospectus addendum as per Article 16 of the prospectus directive in relation to the offer. Continental has not approved any offer of bearer bonds under circumstances in which Continental is obliged to publish a prospectus or prospectus addendum.
With sales of approximately EUR 20 billion in 2009 Continental is among the leading automotive sup-pliers worldwide. As a supplier of brake systems, systems and components for powertrains and chas-sis, instrumentation, infotainment solutions, vehicle electronics, tires and technical elastomers, Conti-nental contributes to enhanced driving safety and global climate protection. Continental is also a competent partner in networked automobile communication. Continental currently employs approximately 143,000 people in 46 countries.
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