TAP to issue 300 million euros in debt

  • ECO News
  • 18 November 2019

The company announced this Monday to the market that it intends to proceed with the operation. The interest rate on five-year bonds will only be known after the end of the offer.

TAP wants to reissue debt. This time it’s 300 million euros for institutional investors, according to the Portuguese regulator (CMVM). The securities have a maturity of five years.

“The company Transportes Aéreos Portugueses, S.A. announced today its intention to launch an offer aimed at institutional investors of senior bonds with an indicative aggregate nominal value of 300 million euros maturing in 2024 and interest rate to be set after the period of the offer,” announced the company in a statement to CMVM.

TAP’s announcement is a declaration of intent in which the air carrier says it intends to proceed with the operation but does not guarantee that it will do so. “There is no guarantee that the offer will be completed or, if completed, the conditions for its completion,” says the company.

If the offer advances, the revenues achieved have two objectives. On the one hand, the “anticipation of the repayment of certain loans within TAP’s existing liabilities and extension of the respective average maturity term” and, on the other hand, the “payment of commissions and expenses related to the bonds’ offer.”

In June, TAP carried out its first issue of bonds to the retail market. The airline recorded a total demand higher than supply and ended up raising 200 million euros in bonds maturing in 2023, in which it offered an interest rate of 4.375%.

This was the largest bond issue by a Portuguese company in the last seven years, only surpassed by a Portugal Telecom issue in 2012.

In the last two years, TAP has sought to reduce its exposure to the floating rate debt to control the risks involving the company, having moved from a floating rate debt equivalent to 92% of total debt, at the end of 2017, to 68% in March 2019.

Besides the change in the interest rate profile, TAP is also taking advantage of debt issues to consolidate liabilities over a longer period by refinancing debt maturing in the near future, but also to strengthen cash flow and finance the current operation.