Pirelli concludes banking lines refinancing

Pirelli & C. S.p.A reports that it has successfully completed the refinancing of its banking lines for 4.2 billion euros with a pool of primary international banks.

In line with the announcement the company made on 28 April 2017, the refinancing operation – which entails a multi-currency loan in euro and dollars – was concluded on improved terms compared with the previous transaction concluded in 2016 and, through a reduction of the cost of debt and the lengthening of its average maturity, Pirelli says the refinancing will contribute to an improvement of its financial profile.

As already noted in April, this year Marco Polo International Italy – a direct shareholder in Pirelli after its merger with Marco Polo International Holding Italy – has subscribed to a capital increase (including the share premium) of approximately 1.2 billion euros, approved by a Pirelli shareholders’ meeting held on 19 June 2017. The funds from the capital increase were used to reimburse for the same amount part of Pirelli’s debt and will allow for the reduction of the net Debt/Ebitda ratio to a level of approximately three times.

At the abovementioned Pirelli shareholders’ meeting, the decision was also taken to convert all special shares in circulation into a corresponding number of ordinary shares and to annul all treasury shares in its portfolio without reducing company equity, given the absence of a nominal value of the same. It was agreed to split the shares in a ratio of five new shares for each share held.

Following the above operations, Pirelli’s capital stands at 1,904,374,935.66 euros, divided into 1,461,509,840 ordinary shares without nominal value and all held by the sole shareholder Marco Polo International Italy SpA.