Italian lottery supplier GTech SpA on Wednesday announced it had fully syndicated a “364-day committed senior bridge term loan credit facility” of up to US$10.7 billion. The credit facility is connected with the acquisition of U.S.-based supplier International Game Technology, the company said in a statement.
Approximately 45 percent of the facility is denominated in euros, while the remainder is in U.S. dollars.
“The bridge facility commitment is available to the company for 15 months in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement,” GTech stated.
In corporate finance, bridge loans are used as a short-term funding option to carry a company through the immediate period before an acquisition. Bridge loan interest rates tend to be higher than rates applicable to other forms of financing.
The credit facility is led by Credit Suisse, Barclays and Citigroup acting as lead arrangers and joint bookrunners. It was syndicated among BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, JP Morgan Chase, Mediobanca, Société Générale, The Bank of Nova Scotia, The Royal Bank of Scotland and UniCredit Bank.
GTech announced last month that it was acquiring IGT for US$6.4 billion, comprised of US$4.7 billion in cash and stock, and the assumption of US$1.7 billion in net debt.
Earlier this month, the firm announced it had received notice of early termination of the waiting period required under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 in the U.S. It is one of the conditions required to finalise the acquisition. The deal is still subject to additional conditions and is expected to be completed in the first or second quarter of 2015.
On Wednesday, GTech’s competitor Scientific Games Corp and Bally Technologies Inc announced that they too had received notice of early termination of the waiting period under Hart-Scott-Rodino. It relates to Scientific Games’ pending acquisition of Bally Technologies in a US$5.1 billion leveraged deal. That acquisition is expected to be completed in early 2015.
