HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky., Nov 28, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- General Cable Corporation (NYSE:BGC) a leading global
supplier of wire and cable products for the energy, specialty,
industrial, and communications markets, announced today that it
successfully completed an amendment and extension of its Senior
Secured Revolving Credit Facility on November 23, 2005. This amendment
increases the size of the facility from $275 million to $300 million,
extends the maturity date by almost two years to August 2010, lowers
borrowing costs by approximately 75 basis points, and reduces unused
facility fees. In addition, several other provisions have been
eliminated or relaxed, including the elimination of the annual limit
on capital expenditures, an expansion of permitted indebtedness to
include acquired indebtedness of newly acquired foreign subsidiaries,
and a significant increase in the level of permitted loan funded
acquisitions.
Finally, this amendment satisfies the financing conditions to
General Cable's offer to convert shares of its 5.75% Series A
Redeemable Convertible Preferred Stock into its common stock, which
was announced and commenced on November 9, 2005. This amendment will
permit General Cable to draw funds from its credit facility to pay
approximately $16.3 million for the conversion offer premium, plus
funds necessary to make a final dividend payment to holders of
Preferred Stock who convert their shares of Preferred Stock in the
conversion offer, as well as to pay all other costs and expenses
related to the conversion offer.
"Our operating results have steadily improved since our
refinancing in November 2003 and at the end of the third quarter of
2005, General Cable had net debt of $301 million compared to net debt
of $380 million just prior to the refinancing. This operating
improvement and de-leveraging has provided us the opportunity to amend
and extend our credit facility and thereby improve our financial
flexibility and lower our borrowing costs," said Christopher Virgulak,
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Office and Treasurer of
General Cable. "These revised provisions not only provide long term
flexibility, but also allow us to complete the pending Silec
acquisition as well as pay the conversion premium and other costs and
expenses related to our Preferred Stock conversion offer. Our lenders
continue to provide the support necessary to position General Cable
for sustained long-term growth," he concluded.
General Cable has filed a registration statement with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (File No. 333-129577) in connection
with the Preferred Stock conversion offer. General Cable urges holders
of Preferred Stock to read the documents that General Cable has filed
or will file with the SEC because they contain important information.
Holders of Preferred Stock may obtain these documents for free
from the SEC's web site (http://www.sec.gov), or by contacting General
Cable's Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations, 4 Tesseneer
Drive, Highland Heights, Kentucky 41076, telephone (859) 572-8000.
General Cable (NYSE:BGC), headquartered in Highland Heights,
Kentucky, is a leader in the development, design, manufacture,
marketing and distribution of copper, aluminum and fiber optic wire
and cable products for the energy, industrial, specialty and
communications markets.
Certain statements in this press release, including without
limitation, statements regarding future financial results and
performance, plans and objectives, capital expenditures and the
Company's or management's beliefs, expectations or opinions, are
forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from
those statements as a result of factors, risks and uncertainties over
which the Company has no control. Such factors include economic and
political consequences resulting from the September 2001 terrorist
attack and the war with Iraq, economic consequences arising from
natural disasters and other similar catastrophes, such as floods,
earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis; domestic and local country price
competition, particularly in certain segments of the power cable
market and other competitive pressures; general economic conditions,
particularly in construction; changes in customer or distributor
purchasing patterns in our business segments; the Company's ability to
increase manufacturing capacity and productivity; the financial impact
of any future plant closures; the Company's ability to successfully
complete and integrate acquisitions and divestitures; the Company's
ability to negotiate extensions of labor agreements on acceptable
terms; the Company's ability to service debt requirements and maintain
adequate domestic and international credit facilities and credit
lines; the Company's ability to pay dividends on its preferred stock;
the impact of unexpected future judgments or settlements of claims and
litigation; the Company's ability to achieve target returns on
investments in its defined benefit plans; the Company's ability to
avoid limitations on utilization of net losses for income tax
purposes; the cost and availability of raw materials, including
copper, aluminum and petrochemicals, generally and as a consequence of
hurricanes Katrina and Rita; the Company's ability to increase its
selling prices during periods of increasing raw material costs; the
impact of foreign currency fluctuations; the impact of technological
changes; and other factors which are discussed in the Company's
Conversion Offer Prospectus dated November 9, 2005 and the Company's
Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission
on March 30, 2005, as well as in periodic reports filed with the
Commission.
SOURCE: General Cable Corporation
General Cable Corporation
Michael P. Dickerson, 859-572-8684
