ALSTOM announced on August 6 that it had secured a comprehensive financial package with the agreement of more than 30 of its banks. This will enable the company to repay its existing debt facilities which mature in the first half of 2004, as well as providing short and medium-term liquidity.
The agreement includes commitments from the French state, because of what the company describes as the ’potential impact of Alstom’s situation in the industrial, social and financial domains across a number of countries’.
The deal will substantially increase Alstom’s equity, and ensure adequate contract bonding capacity to support its on-going business activity level. The package is subject to the approval of shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting on September 24.
A €600m capital increase was approved at the AGM on July 2, and €300m of this is reserved for the French state, which will hold 31·5% of Alstom’s shares with a commitment not to sell until the group’s full recovery. The subscription price will be €1·25 per share.
Alstom will issue €900m of underwritten bonds mandatorily reimbursable with shares with five-year maturity; this may be increased to €1bn. The company will be provided with subordinated loans totalling €1·3bn, with the state participating in €200m.
A syndicate of banks will provide a contract bonds and guarantees facility worth €3·5bn to support commercial activity, 65% counter-guaranteed by the French state. There are also €600m of short-term facilities available, half from a syndicate of banks and half from state-owned bank Caisse des Dép
