Green Mountain to get $1.35 billion facility for Van Houtte purchase

By Sara Rosenberg

New York, Sept. 14 - Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. plans on getting a new $1.35 billion senior secured credit facility to help fund its acquisition of LJVH Holdings Inc. (Van Houtte) and refinance existing debt, company officials said in a conference call on Tuesday.

Bank of America and SunTrust are the lead banks on the deal.

The facility consists of a $750 million five-year revolver, a $250 million five-year term loan A and a $350 million six-year term loan B.

Company officials said they will be moving quickly towards getting ratings for the facility to help in the term loan B marketing.

In addition, officials said that assuming an interest rate in the 5% to 6% range on the new bank debt is likely a fair guess.

Leverage at closing is expected to be 3.5 times. In the long term, the company is targeting leverage of less than 3.0 times.

Green Mountain is buying Van Houtte, a Montreal-based gourmet coffee brand, from Littlejohn & Co. LLC for about $890 million.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year, subject to customary conditions, including certain regulatory approvals.

Green Mountain is a Waterbury, Vt.-based specialty coffee company.

© 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.