OMV has announced the completion of two major capital markets transactions that reduce the firm’s exposure to debt and refinance two acquisitions previously made by the company on more favorable terms.
The Austrian firm has increased its capital base by EUR 1.5 billion by way of a hybrid subordinated bond and a successful placement of 27.3 million shares. Both transactions were fully subscribed and raised EURO 750 million.
OMV has been looking to reducing its debt-to-equity ratio – or gearing – down to 30%, increase its holding in Petrol Ofisi, Turkey’s leading fuel products distribution and lubricants company, by a further 55.4%, and refinance the acquisition of two Tunisian exploration and production subsidiaries from subsidiaries bought from Pioneer Natural Resources.
Rating agencies have certified an additional EUR 1.1 billion of equity capital now on the company’s books.
The share placement is equivalent to 9.09% of OMV’s pre-existing share capital, and was filled at a subscription price of EUR 27.50 per share on 6 June. Existing shareholders have strongly supported the capital increase with a take-up of approx. 65% of their
subscription rights.
The OMV core shareholders ÖIAG and IPIC fully exercised their subscription rights and therefore maintain their stakes in OMV of 31.5% and 20.0%, respectively.
The hybrid bond issuance was also successfully completed with an issue size set at EUR 750 million on May 25, 2011. Due to the high demand from institutional and retail investors, the order book size for the bond issue exceeded EUR 2.4 billion. The hybrid notes have no scheduled maturity date and bear a fixed interest rate of 6.75% until April 26, 2018.
OMV is one of Austria’s largest listed industrial companies. In exploration and production, OMV’s core activities are in Romania and Austria, with a balanced international portfolio. OMV had proven oil and gas reserves of approximately 1.15 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) as of year-end 2010 and production of around 318,000 boe per day in 2010.
The firm sold approximately 18 billion cubic meters natural gas in 2010.
