March 28, 2011

DuPont plans to sell benchmark-sized debt contract to fund Danisco purchase

DuPont plans to sell its benchmark-sized multi-tranche offering to finance a portion of its Danisco acquisition.

DuPont will hand over US$5.8 billion in cash and the assumption of Danisco's US$500 million net debt in order to complete the purchase.

The senior unsecured note offering will include three-year floating-rate notes and three-, five- and 10-year fixed-rate pieces. Later this session, final pricing is expected via active bookrunners Credit Suisse (CS), Goldman Sachs (GS) and JP Morgan Chase (JPM).

The final pricing will include a change of control option at a price of US$101, which will be triggered if 80% of the Danisco shares are not acquired by October 31, 2011. It will serve as a built-in insurance policy that gives bondholders a premium should DuPont have problem in buying Danisco.