The world’s second largest brewer SABMiller Plc announced plans yesterday to issue close to US$2 billion worth of debt, mostly to refinance existing borrowings at its recently acquired US brewing unit, Miller Brewing.
The issue will see the company’s US division Miller Brewing SABMiller, issue $1.7 billion which will be used to refinance a large chunk of the existing bank debt.
On top of this, SABMiller hopes to directly raise US$300m for general corporate purposes.
The transaction includes five-and 10-year maturities and takes the form of rule 144a securities, which are sold to qualified institutional investors and are not registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
