JL French to repay bank debt with IPO

New York, May 23 - J.L. French Automotive Castings, Inc. said it will use proceeds of its initial public offering to repay bank debt.

The Minneapolis, Minn. supplier of aluminum auto parts registered $115 million of class A common stock with the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday for its IPO. The figure includes the greenshoe. Salomon Smith Barney was named lead manager with Robert W. Baird & Co. also included in the syndicate.

J.L. French said it will use all the proceeds from the IPO to repay term loans.

The company currently has $187.5 million of term loans.

The term A loan due April 2005 currently has $140.7 million outstanding and is made up of a $152.5 million term loan to French Automotive, a sterling-denominated term loan to French Automotive with a size equivalent to $17.5 million at the time it was made, and a sterling-denominated term loan to JLF UK with a size also equivalent to $17.5 million at the time it was made.

The term B loan due Oct. 21, 2006 currently has $149.7 million outstanding and was $152.5 million in size.

J.L. French also has a $90.0 million revolving credit facility due April 21, 2005 with $26.6 million drawn.

Total borrowings were $317.1 million at March 31 with standby letters of credit of $24.5 million leaving $38.9 million of availability.

J.L. French noted in the SEC filing that amounts repaid on the term loan cannot be reborrowed but that it expects to continue to draw on its revolving credit facility for general corporate purposes and working capital.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.