Seplat announces $350m bond offering to repay existing debt

Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc., Nigerian indigenous oil and gas company listed on both the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) and London Stock Exchange (LSE), Tuesday announced that it has priced its offering of $350 million in an aggregate principal amount of 9.25 percent senior notes due 2023.

Information made available by the company to the NSE in Lagos revealed that the gross proceeds of the notes will be used to repay and cancel existing indebtedness.

In a related development, the company also announced that it has successfully refinanced its existing $300 million revolving credit facility (RCF) due December 2018 with a new four year $300 million revolving credit facility due June 2022. Seplat stated that the RCF carries initial interest of Libor +6 percent payable semi-annually.

The company envisaged its pro forma gross debt post-closing of both the notes and the RCF expected to occur on 21 March 2018 will be $550 million.

Commenting on the development, Roger Brown, Seplat’s chief financial officer, said:

“This successful re-financing reflects the confidence that the market has continued to show in our business and ability to proactively manage our balance sheet even through challenging times. Our debut bond issuance
further diversifies our capital base and along with the new RCF strengthens our liquidity position which will allow us to scale up our work programme and focus on delivering our growth strategy.”