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Amadeus


 Press Release

Amadeus signs agreement for the refinancing of its debt

Amadeus announces an agreement to refinance its current bank debt through a new senior unsecured credit facility. The agreed refinancing is structured via a "club deal" carried out by Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A., The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch, ING Belgium, S.A. Sucursal en España, J.P. Morgan plc., Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc., NATIXIS, and The Royal Bank of Scotland, plc. in order to obtain senior unsecured credit facilities of a total of 2.7 billion EUR.

The deal brings more flexibility, reduces costs and allows the diversification of funding sources

Madrid, Spain, 17 May 2011: Amadeus, a leading travel technology partner and transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry, today announces an agreement to refinance its current bank debt through a new senior unsecured credit facility.

The agreed refinancing is structured via a “club deal” carried out by Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A., The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch, ING Belgium, S.A. Sucursal en España, J.P. Morgan plc., Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc., NATIXIS, and The Royal Bank of Scotland, plc. in order to obtain senior unsecured credit facilities of a total of €2.7 billion.

This new senior credit facility will be structured under the following tranches:
 

  • Tranche A: €900 million loan with a four and a half year maturity from the date of the agreement. The average duration of the loan is three years when considering the annual amortisations expected. Tranche A is a facility that can be partially withdrawn in USD.
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  • Tranche B: €1.2 billion bridge loan with initial maturity of one year, plus two optional extensions of six-months each, at the election of the Company.
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  • Tranche C: €400 million bridge loan of six months plus one optional extension of six months at the election of the Company.
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  • Tranche D: €200 million revolving credit facility with a two year maturity period from the date of the agreement. The average length of the credit facility is 1.33 years when considering the amortisations expected.

The bridge loan (Tranche B) will allow access to capital markets (bonds) as the Company’s intention is to diversify its sources of financing.

Tranche C is also a bridge loan which will be repaid with the proceeds of the sale of Opodo, Ltd. as soon as the deal receives the corresponding approval of the competition authorities.

Additionally, Tranche D is a revolving credit facility that could be used to cover working capital needs.

Ana de Pro, Chief Financial Officer, Amadeus comments:

“With this agreement we achieve one of the objectives set out in our long-term strategy, to strengthen the financial structure of the business through less expensive and more flexible debt. Through this deal we take the first step towards giving Amadeus more flexibility through extended maturity periods and improved terms and conditions. In addition, once the bridge loan (Tranche B) has been taken out with bonds, Amadeus will have diversified its sources of financing. Overall, this refinancing will allow us to significantly decrease the cost of servicing our debt, which currently has a spread of around 3.60 per cent. The refinancing agreed has an initial cost (over the variable interest rate of Euribor / US Libor) of 1.14 per cent, calculated considering the current level of leverage and the weighting of the various factors of the financing However the final cost of our debt will depend on several factors, namely the future degree of leverage of the company, the extent to which we use the extensions contemplated in the bridge loans, and the eventual margin of the bonds that will substitute the Tranche B loan.”

– Ends –

Notes to the editors

Amadeus is a leading transaction processor and provider of advanced technology solutions for the global travel and tourism industry.

Customer groups include travel providers (e.g. airlines, hotels, rail, ferries, etc.), travel sellers (travel agencies and websites), and travel buyers (corporations and individual travellers).

The group operates a transaction-based business model and processed 850 million billable travel transactions in 2010.

Amadeus has central sites in Madrid (corporate headquarters and marketing), Nice (development) and Erding (Operations – data processing centre) and regional offices in Miami, Buenos Aires, Bangkok and Dubai. At a market level, Amadeus maintains customer operations through 73 local Amadeus Commercial Organisations covering 195 countries.

Amadeus is listed on the Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia stock exchanges and trades under the symbol “AMS.MC”. For the year ended 31 December 2010, the company reported revenues of EUR 2,683 million and EBITDA of EUR 1,015 million. The Amadeus group employs over 10,130 employees worldwide, with 123 nationalities represented at the central offices.

To find out more about Amadeus please go to www.amadeus.com.

To visit the Amadeus Investor Relations centre please go to www.investors.amadeus.com.

Contact details

Amadeus
Corporate Communication
tel: +34 91 582 0160
fax : +34 91 582 0188
e-mail : mediarelations@amadeus.com

Tags

Investor Relations, Europe

Investor Relations Europe