By Rebecca Melvin
New York, April 12 - PPL Corp. priced an upsized $850 million of three-year mandatory convertible equity units, or 17 million units, at par of $50.00 per unit to yield 8.75% with an initial conversion premium of 22.5%, according to a news release.
The mandatory deal, which was initially talked at $750 million in size, came at the rich end of talk that was 8.75% to 9.25% for the annual distribution rate and 17.5% to 22.5% for the premium.
PPL also priced $2.024 billion of common stock, or 80 million shares at $25.30 per share. Both deals priced after the market close Monday.
There is an upsized $127.5 million greenshoe of equity units and an additional 12 million shares of PPL stock to cover over-allotments for the common stock offering.
Both deals were registered off-the-shelf offerings.
The equity units consist of a purchase contract issued by the company and initially a 5% undivided beneficial ownership interest in $1,000 of notes issued by PPL Capital Funding Inc.
Joint bookrunners for the mandatories were Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and UBS Securities LLC.
Proceeds of the offerings will be used primarily to repay a portion of the £3.6 billion bridge term loan facility that funded PPL's £4.1 billion acquisition of Central Networks electricity distribution businesses in the United Kingdom.
The company will apply to list the units on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "PPL PR W."
Allentown, Pa.-based PPL produces electricity and distributes electricity and natural gas to customers in Pennsylvania and the United Kingdom.
| Issuer: | PPL Corp.
|
| Issue: | Convertible mandatory equity units
|
| Amount: | $850 million (17 million units), upsized from $750 million (15 million units)
|
| Greenshoe: | $127.5 million, (2.55 million units), upsized from $112.5 million
|
| Maturity: | May 1, 2014
|
| Concurrent offering: | $2.024 billion of common stock at $25.30 per share
|
| Bookrunners: | Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, UBS Securities LLC
|
| Distribution rate: | 8.75%
|
| Price: | Par, $50.00
|
| Yield: | 8.75%
|
| Conversion premium: | 22.5%
|
| Threshold appreciation price: | $30.99
|
| Minimum conversion rate: | 1.6133
|
| Maximum conversion rate: | 1.9763
|
| Price talk: | 8.75%-9.25%, up 17.5%-22.5%
|
| Takeover protection: | Yes
|
| Pricing date: | April 11
|
| Settlement date: | April 15
|
| Stock reference price: | $25.30
|
| Stock symbol: | NYSE: PPL
|
| Distribution: | Registered, off the shelf
|
| Market capitalization: | $12.44 billion
|
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