GTech signs new US$2.6 bln revolving credit facility

Nov 05, 2014 Newsdesk Industry Talk, Latest News  

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Lottery and casino equipment specialist GTech SpA announced the signing of a new US$2.6 billion five-year senior facilities agreement with a syndicate of 20 banks led by J.P. Morgan Ltd and Mediobanca – Banca di Credito Finanziario SpA. The deal also includes wholly-owned subsidiary GTech Corp, the Italy-based firm said in a statement on Wednesday.

The revolving credit facilities were increased from the US$2 billion initially requested because of a large oversubscription, GTech SpA said.

The agreement provides for a US$1.4 billion multicurrency revolving credit facility for GTech Corp and a EUR850 million (US$1.06 billion) multicurrency revolving credit facility for GTech SpA.

Shareholders of GTEch SpA on Tuesday approved the merger of the firm into a subsidiary called Georgia Worldwide Plc, another step under the US$6.4 billion acquisition of U.S.-based slot machine maker International Game Technology (IGT).

Upon completion of the deal, Georgia Worldwide will be able to borrow under both facilities, GTEch SpA said. Once the acquisition of IGT is completed, the U.S. dollar facility will be increased to US$1.5 billion “and IGT will be able to borrow under the U.S. dollar facility,” it added.

GTech SpA said the facilities would be used for general corporate purposes. It includes repayment of any outstanding amounts under the term and multicurrency revolving credit facilities for GTech SpA and its unit, which are scheduled to expire in December 2015, and refinancing certain debt securities issued by the parent company.

The U.S. dollar facility will also be used to repay any outstanding amounts under IGT’s revolving credit facility, once the acquisition is completed.

The firm last week said a bridging loan it needed for the acquisition of IGT would be US$500 million smaller than originally estimated.

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