Issuance of Medium Term Notes

RNS Number : 1194A

Asian Plantations Limited

15 March 2013

 



15 March 2012

Asian Plantations Ltd

("Asian Plantations" or the "Company")

Issuance of Medium Term Notes

Asian Plantations Limited (LSE: PALM), a palm oil plantation company with operations in Malaysia, is pleased to confirm that, further to the Company's announcement on 9 January 2013, it has now completed the second and final issuance of RM155 million (approximately US$49.8 million) of APL's medium term note programme ("MTN") (the "Second Tranche"), which now totals in aggregate RM255 million (approximately US$81.9 million).

The Second Tranche has been issued via Maybank Investment Bank Berhad ("Maybank"), a leading Southeast Asian investment bank, to Malaysian institutional fixed income investors. The MTN programme is unconditionally guaranteed by Maybank and therefore has been accorded an AAA rating in the local Malaysian market.

The Second Tranche is comprised of:

§ RM25 million (approximately US$8.0 million) four year maturity note (due 2017);

§ RM30 million (approximately US$9.6 million) five year maturity note (due 2018);

§ RM40 million (approximately US$12.8 million) six year maturity note (due 2019);

§ RM40 million (approximately US$12.8 million) seven year maturity note (due 2020); and,

§ RM20 million (approximately US$6.4 million) eight year maturity note (due 2021).

The all-in interest cost to the Company, including the annual bank guarantee fee, is 5.85%, 5.95%, 6.05%, 6.15% and 6.25% for the four, five, six, seven and eight year notes, respectively. This represents a 269 basis point ("bps") premium for the four year tranche over the equivalent four year Malaysian Government Securities ("MGS"), currently trading at 3.16% and a 282 bps premium over the equivalent eight year MGS trading at 3.43%.

Approximately RM132.2 million (approximately US$42.5 million) of the proceeds from the Second Tranche are earmarked for refinancing of existing loans and the remainder for general working capital purposes.

Dennis Melka, APL's Joint Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"We are delighted to complete the MTN issuance at highly competitive rates with strong oversubscription from Malaysian institutional investors."

-END-

For further information contact:

Asian Plantations Limited Graeme Brown, Co-Founder & Joint Chief Executive Officer Dennis Melka, Co-Founder & Joint Chief Executive Officer	Tel:  [phone]
Strand Hanson Limited James Harris James Spinney James Bellman	Tel: [phone]
Macquarie Capital (Europe) Limited Steve Baldwin Dan Iacopetti	Tel:   [phone]
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited Tom Nicholson Callum Stewart	Tel:   [phone] Tel: [phone]
Bankside Consultants Simon Rothschild	Tel: [phone]

 

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