| 14 March 2013
Thales (NYSE Euronext Paris: HO) yesterday issued a €800m dual tranche bond with a €500m 5-year, 1.625% tranche and a €300m, 8-year, 2.25% tranche.
A Thales spokesperson revealed this issue would be used to refinance the €600m bond maturing in April 2013, adding it formed part of the active liquidity management of Thales and enabled to maintain the Group's financial flexibility and extend the maturity of its financial resources.
According to the spokesperson the marked success of this issue with investors confirms the confidence of the market in the creditworthiness of the Group.
The long term debt of Thales he said is rated BBB+ (outlook: positive) by Standard & Poor’s and A2 by Moody’s (outlook: negative).
The issue was lead managed by BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole CIB, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Natixis and Société Générale