UK retailer Asda has announced that it has refinanced more than £3.2 billion of its debt, which it said reflected “strong demand from investors”.
The refinancing included what the retailer called “the biggest Sterling high-yield bond this year” and the second-largest Sterling bond in the European leveraged finance market – behind Asda’s original £2.25 billion Sterling bond tranche in 2021.
“Strong investor demand” reportedly enabled the supermarket to raise £1.75 billion of senior secured notes and upsize by more than £200 million on a £900 million Equivalent EUR Term Loan B (TLB) bringing the final size to £1.1 billion equivalent.
The maturities of the new senior secured notes and TLB are 2030 and 2031, respectively. As part of the £3.2 billion refinancing, Asda used around £0.3 billion of balance sheet cash to reduce gross debt.
Michael Gleeson, Asda’s chief financial officer, said: “We saw a strong demand from investors after taking a thoughtful and prudent approach to refinancing our near-term debt well ahead of maturities – to further strengthen our balance sheet.
“The refinancing also reflects the wider strength of Asda as a diversified retail group with a strong grocery business at its core supported by a fantastic non-food offering in George and following recent investments, a major presence in the high-growth convenience and food service markets.”
This comes as Asda has published its full year results for the period ending 31st December 2023.
