GE PROVIDES $80.0 MILLION U.S. CREDIT FACILITY & £15.0 MILLION U.K. FOR LEADING PRODUCER STEEL BARS

Main Menu | News By Date | News By Supplier | News By Category | About Us

GE PROVIDES $80.0 MILLION U.S. CREDIT FACILITY & £15.0 MILLION U.K. FOR LEADING PRODUCER STEEL BARS
17 August 2007 - AZDEL

Antares Capital and its sister company, GE Leveraged Loans Ltd., based in the United Kingdom, today announced their role as administrative agent for an $80.0 million U.S. senior credit facility and a £15.0 million U.K. senior credit facility to support KNIA Holdings, Inc., an affiliate of funds managed by Kohlberg & Company, L.L.C. (“Kohlberg”) in its acquisition of Niagara Corporation (“Niagara”). GE Capital Markets served as the sole lead arranger and bookrunner for the credit facility.

The U.S. facility consisted of a $65.0 million revolving credit facility and a $15.0 million term loan. The U.K. facility consisted of a £15.0 million revolver. KNIA used a portion of the proceeds to acquire Niagara with the remainder of the facility available to Niagara to implement its business growth strategy and for other general corporate purposes.

Niagara produces and distributes specialty and commodity steel bar products that are used in a vast number of industries including aerospace, agriculture, automotive, construction, and oil drilling. In the U.S., Niagara operates five production facilities, which produce cold finished bars for sale primarily to steel service centers. In the U. K., Niagara maintains hot rolling, cold finishing and distribution operations. The hot rolling operations offer one of the most complete ranges of round, hexagon, flat, square and special profile bars and sections to the manufacturing industry worldwide.

“Niagara represents an outstanding investment and lending opportunity for GE Antares as the Company is a market leader in the cold finished steel bar market as well as having very attractive growth prospects. We are pleased to once again support Kohlberg, as well as the outstanding management team at Niagara,” said Chet Zara, Senior Managing Director of GE Antares Capital.

Christopher Anderson, Principal at Kohlberg said, “GE Antares’ ability to underwrite and commit to the first and second lien facilities on an expedited timetable was important to us as we negotiated with Niagara.” Anderson added that, “GE Antares’ flexible financing package and international lending capabilities should ensure that Niagara has sufficient funding to achieve its current and future initiatives. We hope to continue to grow with both Niagara and GE Antares in the years ahead.”

http://www.ge.com

About: AZDEL
AZDEL, Inc. is a joint venture of GE Advanced Materials and PPG Industries. The AZDEL business was established in 1972 by PPG, and the 50/50 joint venture was set up with GE in 1986. AZDEL is a global leader in the manufacture and supply of high-performance composite materials serving a wide variety of markets and industries including automotive, transportation interiors, large truck, materials handling, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), and building and construction.

* AZDEL and VolcaLite are trademarks of AZDEL, Inc., a 50/50 joint venture of General Electric Company and PPG Industries.

More News:
  • For August 2007
  • From AZDEL
  • For Thermoplastic Composites