Fonterra Bond Offer Opens 18 February 2010
Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited announced today that it is offering up to NZ$100 million of bonds, with the ability to accept up to NZ$50 million oversubscriptions. The Offer will open on Thursday 18 February 2010 and will close on 3 March 2010.
The unsecured fixed rate senior bonds will have a six year maturity (to 4 March 2016). The minimum investment is $5,000 and multiples of $1,000 thereafter. The interest rate for the bonds will be announced on Wednesday 17 February, the day before the Offer opens.
A Simplified Disclosure Prospectus for the offer has been registered and is available for download at
http://www.fonterra.com. Applications for bonds will not be accepted until the Offer opens.
Fonterra has mandated ANZ, part of ANZ National Bank Limited; BNZ; and Westpac Institutional Bank, a division of Westpac Banking Corporation, as Joint-Lead Managers for the bond Offer.
On 20 January 2010, Fonterra announced it was considering a bond offer of up to $250 million. The offer size has been scaled back to a maximum of $150 million as Fonterra has been able to cover part of its financing requirements overseas at a very attractive funding cost .
As previously advised, Fonterra intends to use any money raised for general business purposes, including partial replacement of a €300 million Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) maturing in April 2010.
About Fonterra
Fonterra is a global leader in dairy nutrition – the preferred supplier of dairy ingredients to many of the world’s leading food companies. Fonterra is also a market leader with our own consumer dairy brands in Australia/New Zealand, Asia/Africa, Middle East and Latin America.
The farmer-owned New Zealand co-operative is the largest processor of milk in the world, producing more than two million tonnes of dairy ingredients, value added dairy ingredients, specialty ingredients and consumer products every year. Drawing on generations of dairy expertise, Fonterra is one of the largest investors in dairy based research and innovation in the world. Our 16,000 staff work across the dairy spectrum from advising farmers on sustainable farming and milk production, to ensuring we live up to exacting quality standards and delivering every day on our customer promise in more than 100 markets around the world.
