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Wed 4 Nov 2009, 09:11 GMT

Vopak to issue US$680m Notes Program


Terminal operator says it will issue a senior unsecured Notes Program in the US Private Placement market.

Terminal operator Royal Vopak has announced that it will issue a new senior unsecured Notes Program in the US Private Placement market for a total amount of USD 680 million.

The program consists of various tranches with maturities ranging from 8 to 20 years in 3 different currencies, with in total USD 575 million of the tranches in USD.

In this new issue 27 institutional investors are participating, of which 6 are new investors. The annual interest rates are between 4.75% for the 8 years Euro tranche and 6.02% for the 20 years USD tranche with a weighted average annual interest rate of 5.5%.

The proceeds of this private placement will be made available in December 2009.

"The program will further enhance the maturity profile of the outstanding debt and will provide sufficient flexibility under the current revolving credit facility to enable the refinancing of the regular repayments under the existing private placement programs up to and including 2011," Vopak said in a statement.

Jack de Kreij, Member of the Board and Chief Financial Officer of Vopak said ‘We again experienced very strong demand for this new issuance through our robust relationships in the US Private Placement market, while also attracting a group of new long term investors. We deem this a clear reconfirmation of Vopak’s ongoing access to relevant capital markets. This transaction further facilitates the execution of our growth ambitions as reflected in our global terminal network expansion strategy, supported by healthy customer demand and strong financial performance in the last years.’

JP Morgan Securities Inc. acted as Sole Bookrunner and Lead Placement Agent while Citibank Global Markets Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Royal Bank of Scotland plc acted as Co-Agents on this transaction.

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