Drago Cerchiari, Chief Executive Officer of Sorin S.p.A.
(MIL:SRN), announced today the signing of a refinancing agreement for
the medium-long term debt of the Company. The new loan of up to Euro
200 million, which will be used to repay in total the current
medium-long term debt, has been organized by Mediobanca - Banca di
Credito Finanziario S.p.A., Banca Intesa S.p.A., BNP Paribas and MCC
S.p.A., acting as Lead Arranger.
Mediobanca - Banca di Credito Finanziario S.p.A. acted as well as
Global Coordinator e Facility Agent.
The new loan has an average duration of about 5 years, final
expiry date being June 2013, and is structured in 2 tranches. Terms
and conditions are those that generally apply to these kinds of
transactions, and however, they represent an improvement over the
current loan.
Furthermore, as a consequence of the mandate to Calyon assigned on
May 31st 2006, yesterday Sorin undersigned the contracts related to
the securitization program of trade receivables on a pan-European
basis, for a total amount of Euro 150 million. Sorin expects to
achieve the first securitizations already during the year and to bring
the program fully operative within the first quarter of 2007, thus
replacing factoring transactions.
"We are glad to announce to the market that with today's
refinancing and securitazion agreements Sorin's financial and balance
sheet structure is definitely stronger", commented Drago Cerchiari,
Chief Executive Officer of Sorin. "Our commitment to execute our
growth in the cardiovascular business can now benefit from a further
boost thanks to the soundness of our balance sheet and to a lower
level of financial charges".
About the Sorin Group
The Sorin Group (Reuters code: SORN.MI), a world leader in the
development of medical technologies for cardiac surgery, offers
innovative therapies for cardiac rhythm dysfunctions, interventional
cardiology and the treatment of chronic kidney diseases. Sorin Group
includes: Dideco, CarboMedics, Inc., COBE Cardiovascular, Inc.,
Stockert, Mitroflow, ELA Medical, Inc., Sorin Biomedica, Bellco and
Soludia. Sorin Group has more than 4,500 employees working at
facilities in more than 80 countries throughout the world to serve
over 5,000 public and private treatment centers.
For more information: www.sorin.com
