Shares in Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd (ASX: DMP) are among the best performers in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) on Thursday after the company announced a major debt refinancing.
The company, which has been in the news recently due to takeover rumours that turned out to be false, told the ASX in a statement that it had secured oversubscribed commitments for $1.05 billion in new debt facilities.
As the company said:
The new multi-currency facilities provide staggered maturities, extending the Company's weighted average tenor, and reducing total commitments by $100 million from $1.15 billion to $1.05 billion, reflecting disciplined balance sheet management. The refinancing delivers improved pricing relative to prior facilities and substantial headroom relative to covenants, providing additional flexibility to support operational and strategic initiatives.
The company's chief financial officer, George Saoud, said the refinancing demonstrated the confidence the company's lenders had regarding Domino's financial strength and long-term outlook.
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False takeover news fires up shares
Domino's shares took off in late October after the Australian Financial Review published an article saying that Bain Capital was considering a takeover valuing the company at as much as $4 billion.
The company asked that its shares be placed in a trading halt following the publication of the article, and soon refuted it.
As the company said in a statement at the time:
Domino's confirms that, as far as it is aware, it has not received any proposal from Bain Capital or had any communication with that organisation. Looking at the price and volume of Domino's security trading at or around and after the time the AFR Online article was released, it is clear that the change in price of Domino's securities and the increase in volume … all occurred after that article was published.
Despite denying a takeover was in the offing, Domino's executive chair, Jack Cowin, said he was open to a deal, but only after he had been able to right the ship at Domino's and improve the share price.
And while the takeover was a non-event, Domino's shares have indeed held up well, increasing from $15.45 before the original story was published to $19.97 on Thursday, a 4.3% gain.
Domino's was also named by Macquarie recently as one of 16 companies that could be takeover candidates.
Other companies included in Macquarie's list of targets were pharmaceutical products distributor EBOS Group Ltd (ASX: EBO), Dan Murphy's owner Endeavour Group Ltd (ASX: EDV), language testing company IDP Education Ltd (ASX: IEL), and poultry producer Inghams Group Ltd (ASX: ING).
