- Fully-Committed Euro 1.615 billion senior secured credit facilities
underwritten by Credit Suisse AG and Goldman Sachs Bank USA
- Provides Stabilization and Enhances Alcatel-Lucent’s liquidity profile
- Loan Facility provides flexibility to optimize its business and capital
structure in conjunction with the previously announced Performance Program
which is underway (€1,250 mm in cost reductions expected by year-end 2013)
Paris, December 14, 2012 - Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and
NYSE: ALU) today announced it entered into commitments with Credit Suisse AG
and Goldman Sachs Bank USA for Euro 1.615 billion in senior secured credit
facilities.
Commenting on the initiatives, Ben Verwaayen, CEO Alcatel-Lucent, said:
“Today’s announcement of a multi-year financing commitment allows
Alcatel-Lucent to operate and adapt our business in a manner which is
appropriate in today’s markets. The proceeds from the new financing will
be used to effectively extend our maturity profile over the next several years
and provide additional flexibility to finalize our previously announced
Performance Program priorities, including the Euro 1.25 billion cost reduction
target and the exiting or restructuring of unprofitable Managed Services
contracts and geographic markets. We will take advantage of the
flexibility provided by this new financing in order to aggressively look at all
options to drive long-term sustainable profitability, enhance our strategic
positioning and improve our balance sheet.”
It is expected that Alcatel-Lucent USA, an Alcatel-Lucent subsidiary, will
be the borrower and Alcatel-Lucent and some of its material subsidiaries will
be guarantors. The senior secured credit facilities, as contemplated, are
expected to be denominated in U.S. dollars and in euros, and will have
maturities of three and a half to six years. It is expected that the facilities
will be secured by, among other things, the intellectual property portfolio of
Alcatel-Lucent.
The commitment parties have the right to syndicate all or a portion of their
respective commitments with respect to the financing but may not assign their
obligation to fund. Certain terms of the financing are subject to change in
connection with such syndication, targeted to complete in January 2013
The commitment is subject to customary closing conditions including the
negotiation of definitive documentation regarding the financing and there not
having occurred any material adverse change in our business.
Information Shared with Lenders
Certain important information, including about the company, being shared
with the lenders is available on the company’s website at http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/lidec12
under the heading “2012 Lender Information.” In materials provided to lenders
Alcatel-Lucent targets for 2015 a gross margin in the range of 35% to 37% and
an adjusted operating margin of 6% to 9%.
Notes
“Gross margin” is the sales price less cost of goods sold. “Adjusted” refers
to the fact that it excludes the main impacts from Lucent’s purchase price
allocation.
SAFE HARBOR FOR FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
Except for historical information, all other information in this
presentation consists of forward-looking statements within the meaning of the
US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. These forward
looking statements include words such as “will,” “expects,” “looks to,”
“anticipates,” “targets,” “projects,” “intends,” “maintain”, “plans,”
“believes,” “estimates,” “continue,” “reach,” variations of such words
and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking
statements which are not statements of historical facts. These forward-looking
statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks,
uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to assess. Therefore, actual
outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted
in such forward-looking statements, in particular with regard to cost
containment measures generating expected savings, and the economic climate in
the world in general, and in Europe in particular with the euro crisis. These
risks and uncertainties are also based upon a number of factors including,
among others: our ability to realize the full value of our existing and future
patent portfolio in a complex technological environment (including our ability
to defend ourselves in infringement suits), our ability to operate effectively
in a highly competitive industry and to correctly identify and invest in the
technologies that become commercially accepted, demand for our legacy products
and the technologies we pioneer, the timing and volume of network roll-outs
and/or product introductions, difficulties and/or delays in our ability to
execute on our strategic plans, our ability to efficiently co-source or
outsource certain business processes and more generally control our costs and
expenses, the risks inherent in long-term sales agreements, exposure to the
credit risk of customers or foreign exchange fluctuations, reliance on a
limited number of suppliers for the components we need or a tight market for
commodity components, the social, political and economic risks we may encounter
in any region of our global operations, the costs and risks associated with
pension and postretirement benefit obligations, changes to existing regulations
or technical standards, existing and future litigation, compliance with
environmental, health and safety laws, the global economic situation and of
those geographical areas where we are most active, and the impact of each of
these factors on our results of operations and cash. For a more complete list
and description of such risks and uncertainties, refer to Alcatel-Lucent's
Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2011, as well as
other filings by Alcatel-Lucent with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Except as required under the US federal securities laws and the rules and
regulations of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Alcatel-Lucent
disclaims any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking statements
after the distribution of this presentation, whether as a result of new
information, future events, developments, changes in assumptions or
otherwise.
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