Consumables

Cascades amends and renews its credit facility

Friday 11. February 2011 - Cascades Inc. (CAS on the Toronto stock exchange), a leader in the recovery of recyclable materials and the manufacturing of green packaging and tissue paper products, is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement with a syndicate of banks to amend and renew its credit agreement with improved financing conditions.

(All amounts in this press release are in Canadian dollars.)
Under the amended agreement, Cascades will consolidate the existing revolving and term credit facilities into a new $750 million revolving credit facility maturing in February 2015. At Cascades’ current senior secured debt rating, the new credit facility will accrue interest at market rates plus a margin of 212.5 bps. Standby fees will amount to 22.5% of the applicable margin.
“This new facility reduces our cost of borrowing and improves our financial flexibility. It demonstrates the strong support that we continue to obtain from our banking syndicate. While our current strategic priority remains to reduce debt, the new credit facility provides us with another tool to continue improving our overall competiveness and creating value for our shareholders” said Allan Hogg, Chief Financial Officer.
The existing financial covenants, namely the maximum funded debt to capitalization ratio of 65% and the minimum interest coverage ratio of 2.25x, stay unchanged.
The new credit agreement is led by National Bank Financial as Co-Lead Arranger and Administrative agent, Scotia Capital as Co-Lead Arranger, Collateral and Syndication agent along with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Caisse Centrale Desjardins and Wells Fargo acting as Co-Documentation agents.