Leonardo sealed a deal on Wednesday to get new loans from a number of international banks. The total value of the lines of credit amounts to two billion euros and their shelf life is up to two years. This was announced in a note by the defense group itself, specifying that the resources "will be used to strengthen group liquidity and to support financial flexibility".
The new loans, adding to the liquidity already on hand and to the pre-existing credit lines, allow Leonardo to count on a total liquidity of more than five billion euros.
Secondo Alessandro Profumo, Leonardo's CEO, “the two new credit lines represent further confirmation of Leonardo's commitment to pursuing a disciplined financial strategy even in an exceptional period like this. This transaction will further strengthen the Group's liquidity and ensure adequate financial flexibility in the changed economic context caused by the COVID-19 pandemic".
Leonardo specifies that “the lines of credit have been oversubscribed, confirming the solidity of the group's creditworthiness on the financial market". The credit lines have a term of up to 24 months and do not include financial covenants.
The pool of banks is made up of Banca IMI (which is part of the Intesa Sanpaolo group), Bnp Paribas, Crédit Agricole Cib and Unicredit, which acted as mandated lead arrangers e bookrunners; to these are added Banco Bpm (lead arranger), Ubi Banca, HSBC, NatWest and Société Générale (co-arrangers).
Crédit Agricole CIB and UniCredit acted as coordinator e documentation bank. Banca Imi and Bnl (Bnp Paribas group) will assume the positions of agent bank.
Finally, the legal advisers were Linklaters (for the banking pool) and Clifford Chance (for Leonardo).
Leonardo's stock on the Stock Exchange closed the last session up by 1,94%, at 0,114 euros per share. The decrease since the beginning of the year is 41,36%.
