Obbligazioni societarie Obbligazioni HeidelbergCement AG

[Imark]

24 ottobre 2008

Esplode la crisi finanziaria post Lehman e si indebolisce repentinamente la posizione di un emittente con un debito pesante, in parallelo comincia ad emergere la improbabilità che la famiglia Merckle dia il promesso supporto finanziario, necessario nel breve termine per ottenere un waiver sui covenant del debito.

HC perde l'IG per S&P: i bond sprofondano letteralmente...

Thomson Financial News
TEXT-S&P cuts HeidelbergCement AG corporate credit rtgs
10.24.08, 10:59 AM ET

Oct 24 (Reuters) - (The following statement was released by the rating agency)

Oct 24 - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it lowered its long- and short-term corporate credit ratings to 'BB+/B' from 'BBB-/A-3' on Germany-based cement producer HeidelbergCement AG (HC).

At the same time, we placed all the ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications.

'The rating actions reflect our revised forecasts on HC following recent discussions with management,' said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Xavier Buffon, 'and our beliefs that expected headroom under existing financial covenants will be extremely tight at year-end 2008, a covenant breach at end-June 2009 is a material risk, and credit ratios will remain weak over the next few years.'

We are also concerned about what we deem HC's lack of adequate measures to tackle the situation, with covenant issues compounding the prospects of heavy refinancing to be carried out by mid-2010.

The ratings integrate HC's aggressive financial policy and large debt burden, stemming from the mostly debt-financed EUR14 billion acquisition of Hanson PLC in mid-2007; weak liquidity, high exposure to the current cyclical downturn in several mature construction markets, and the industry's heavy capital and energy intensiveness.

Mitigating these weaknesses are HC's strong market position as a leading global player in heavy construction materials, extensive geographic and market diversity, and still good profitability overall, aided by resilient prices--all of which translate into still significant cash flow generation. 2008 saw a substantial drop in underlying industry trends, especially in the U.K., and ongoing severe conditions in the U.S., after several years of overall strongly supportive markets.

HC has found itself sharply affected by Hanson's historically heavy exposure to both the U.S. and the U.K. markets. 'To resolve the CreditWatch status, which is likely to span a few weeks, we intend to investigate further the likelihood and potential amount of any capital injection,' said Mr. Buffon.

We have understood until now that such a step is a possibility to avoid the potential covenant breach, but we are concerned that an injection could fall short of what would be necessary to respect financial covenants. Still, infusing capital could facilitate negotiations of covenant waivers.

[email protected]

 

[Imark]

25 ottobre 2008

In pochi giorni, anche Moody’s effettua una riduzione del rating: appare arduo il rifinanziamento del debito corto di HC.

Moody's downgrades HeidelbergCement to Ba1; Outlook remains negative

Approximately €3.3 bn of debt instruments affected
Frankfurt, October 23, 2008 -- Moody's Investors Service has today downgraded HeidelbergCement's (HC) long-term ratings to Ba1 and the short term rating from P-3 to NP. The outlook for the ratings is negative. In accordance with its established practices, Moody's concurrently assigned a Ba1 Corporate Family Rating to HC and expects to withdraw the longterm issuer rating shortly. The ratings of HC's EMTN programme and outstanding and guaranteed bonds are lowered to Ba1.

The rating action was prompted by ongoing weaker performance in HC's North American and other developed markets such as the UK and the expectation that these markets will remain challenging for the foreseeable future, coupled with lower than initially expected proceeds from the sale of assets to reduce the leverage to levels commensurate with the Baa3 level. In addition, HC's refinancing profile has weakened mainly as a result of high maturities over the coming 20 months. Moody's also notes that the financing arranged for the acquisition of Hanson included financial covenants that were tailored to planned assets divestitures and free cash flow generation. The delay in achieving these divestitures has the consequence of a material reduction of headroom.

The outlook remains negative mainly taking into account the expectation of ongoing weakness in HC's key markets such as the UK and the US and the challenge to improve credit metrics. In case the challenging market conditions would not allow an improvement of credit metrics, further negative pressure might develop in the coming quarters. In addition Moody's will continue to monitor the group's liquidity situation and re-financing needs for the coming 18 months.

With the acquisition of Hanson plc by HeidelbergCement AG in mid 2007 the leverage of the group increased significantly. Reduction of the leverage had been expected to be achieved by the sale of non-core assets and the use of free cash flows to pay down debt which has now only partly materialised.

HC has already sold assets with total proceeds of around €4 billion (sale of Vicat, maxit and several other assets) and has also been provided with around €1 billion of fresh equity from its main shareholder. Moody's believes that further substantial proceeds from asset sales will be difficult to achieve given the current market environment for companies in the building materials industry.

Although Moody's expects HC's management to continue to use cash generated to pay down debt this may lead to a longer than expected recovery of HC's RCF/Net Debt ratio, which is required to be sustainably above 15% to maintain the Ba1 ratings.

On a more positive side, HC has a strong market position in some of the growing emerging countries, such as Russia, the Ukraine, Romania and Indonesia. The positive development in these markets has helped to partly offset the weaker performance in some of the mature markets; however, growth in Eastern European markets is expected to slow down. Cost cutting measures and the integration of Hanson are well under way which gives HC an efficient cost structure based on the now achieved vertical integration of its businesses in the US and in the UK and strong market power in these markets.

Downgrades:

..Issuer: HeidelbergCement AG

....Issuer Rating, Downgraded to Ba1 from Baa3

....Senior Unsecured Medium-Term Note Program, Downgraded to a range of Ba1 to NP from a range of Baa3 to P-3

..Issuer: Heidelbergcement Finance B.V.

....Senior Unsecured Medium-Term Note Program, Downgraded to a range of Ba1 to NP from a range of Baa3 to P-3

....Senior Unsecured Regular Bond/Debenture, Downgraded to Ba1 from Baa3

..Issuer: Hanson Lmitied/Hanson Australia Funding Limited/Hanson Building Materials Limited

....Senior Unsecured Regular Bond/Debentures, downgraded to Ba1 from Baa3

New Assignments:

..Issuer: HeidelbergCement AG

....Corporate Family Rating: Ba1

HeidelbergCement AG is the world's third-largest cement producer. HC generated sales of EUR12.9 billion per last 12 months (June 2008). With the acquisition of UK building materials producer Hanson plc in mid-2007, HC is now the world's largest producer of aggregates with an annual output in 2007 of 334 mt, and the second-largest producer of ready-mixed concrete with an output of 46 million cubic meters, behind Cemex.

 

[Imark]

23 Novembre 2008

Il caso di HeidelbergCement diventa emblematico del passaggio repentino da una fase di liquidità disponibile per tutti ad una in cui il flight to quality riduce drasticamente l'accesso al mercato dei capitali da parte del corporate che abbia determinate caratteristiche.

Emittente che si è indebitata di recente in misura pesante, esponendosi sul mercato dell'edilizia britannico attraverso l'acquisto di Hanson Plc; con ad oggi ancora una buona capacità di generazione di cashflow, nonostante il downturn molto severo atteso o in essere nel comparto di appartenenza (edilizia) e nei mercati di riferimento (UK, USA, D, seppure, per quest'ultimo paese, in misura minore); con scadenze importanti sul debito nel 2010 che ne impongono il rifinanziamento e convenant anche sul debito più lungo che potrebbero, se non osservati, determinarne il default già a fine 2008 o a metà 2009.

A questo contesto di debolezza legato alla esposizione debitoria si sono aggiunti i gravissimi problemi di liquidità insorti nella holding finanziaria a monte della catena di controllo di HC, a causa di una forte esposizione dalla parte sbagliata (erano short) nel wargame realizzatosi su Volkswagen AG nelle scorse settimane.

Le perdite sono state massicce (circa 700 mln euro) al punto da rendere necessario per la finanziaria VEM della famiglia Merckle il reperimento urgente di una somma compresa fra 600 mln ed 1,1 mld euro per evitare il proprio stesso default.

Le trattative con le banche onde ottenere un accordo mirato ad evitare il default di VEM sono in corso, ma quello che era un punto di forza per HC (il supporto atteso da quella direzione per la liquidità occorrrente alla conservazione dell'IG) si è trasformato oggi in un fattore negativo.

C'è infatti il rischio che la stessa HC possa essere venduta per raccogliere la liquidità occorrente a VEM.

Billionaire Merckle Said to Need as Much as EU1.1 Billion

By Aaron Kirchfeld and Angela Cullen

Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Germany’s billionaire Merckle family, stung by losses on Volkswagen AG shares, needs as much as 1.1 billion euros ($1.4 billion) in financing to avert insolvency of its investment company, four people familiar with the situation said.

The family’s investment company VEM Vermoegensverwaltung GmbH may be forced to file for insolvency if a so-called standstill agreement that would freeze banks’ claims isn’t extended before today’s deadline, said the people, who declined to be identified because the talks are private. Merckle needs between 600 million euros and 1.1 billion euros, the people said.

Adolf Merckle, 74, whose estimated $9.2 billion fortune puts him 94th on Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people this year, needs financing after losing as much as 700 million euros on wrong-way bets on VW stock and the value of HeidelbergCement AG, which it owns, plunged, the people said. A failure of VEM could have repercussions for Merckle’s holdings, which span as many as 30 companies in the cement, machinery and pharmaceutical industries, said the people.

Merckle may be forced to sell assets including German generics drugmaker Ratiopharm GmbH, the people said. A group of about 40 banks are being led by Commerzbank AG, Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Deutsche Bank AG and HVB Group, the people said. RBS of Edinburgh may not agree to the standstill agreement, the people said.

Seeking Help

Merckle has also approached the government of Baden- Wuerttemberg about a possible loan guarantee, government officials confirmed today.

Spokesmen for Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, Germany’s largest banks, RBS, Stuttgart-based LBBW and UniCredit SpA’s German unit HVB Group declined to comment.

Merckle didn’t return calls seeking comment. A management assistant at VEM declined to comment on behalf of managing director Susanne Friess. Ludwig Merckle, son of Adolf and head of VEM, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

HeidelbergCement, Germany’s biggest cement maker, today said it’s “not affected” by Merckle’s attempts to prop up struggling VEM. “HeidelbergCement doesn’t have any financial links to VEM, nor are there any credit agreements at HeidelbergCement related to VEM,” the Heidelberg-based company said in a statement.

Pressure on HeidelbergCement

HeidelbergCement dropped the most in at least 19 years in Frankfurt trading yesterday on concern Merckle may have to sell shares to help support VEM. The stock has declined 62 percent so far this year, cutting the company’s market value to 5 billion euros.

In addition to VEM’s holding in HeidelbergCement, stakes held by other Merckle firms and associated companies mean the family controls about 86 percent of the cement maker, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The cement maker’s declining share price led banks that were given stock as loan collateral to seek additional financial guarantees from Merckle, the people said.

“The lack of clarity is a burden” and getting financing in this type of environment is difficult, said Ralf Doerper, an analyst at Dusseldorf-based WestLB AG. “The problem is there’s speculation that HeidelbergCement shares may be sold to solve a liquidity shortage.”

Hanson Purchase

HeidelbergCement bought Hanson Plc, a producer of building materials, for 7.85 billion pounds ($11.6 billion) last year, financed in part with loans. Merckle has also increased the stake in the cement maker with financing from the banks, the people said.

VEM became caught in a so-called short squeeze after betting Wolfsburg, Germany-based Volkswagen’s stock would fall, according to the people. Porsche SE’s Oct. 26 announcement that it planned to increase its stake in Volkswagen to 75 percent sparked a race by short-sellers to buy from a shrinking pool of stock, causing Volkswagen shares to surge more than fourfold in two days.

 

[Imark]

23 Novembre 2008

La situazione ha pesantemente influito sui rating di HC. Peraltro, il crollo delle quotazioni azionarie di HC (di cui la famiglia Merckle controlla oltre l'80%) legato alle vicende di VEM preclude ogni eventuale possibilità di raccogliere liquidità collocando azioni sul mercato.

E già sarebbe stato difficile farlo nelle condizioni attuali, giacché una quota importante di queste azioni in possesso dei Merckle era stata data in pegno alle banche a condizioni per cui il calo delle quotazioni avrebbe determinato la necessità di incrementare la garanzia reale a copertura dei prestiti bancari, come indicato nella Bloomberg postata in precedenza.

Una situazione che normalmente rende necessario guadagnare l'assenso del pignorante ad operazioni di diluizione del capitale.

I rating calano ancora...

HeidelbergCement Lowered To 'BB-', Sr Unsec To 'B+', New '5' Recovery Rtg; Still On Watch Neg

PARIS (Standard & Poor's) Nov. 21, 2008--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services
said today that it lowered its long-term corporate credit rating on
Germany-based cement producer HeidelbergCement AG (HC) to 'BB-' from 'BB+'. At the same time, we affirmed the 'B' short-term rating.

We also lowered the issue ratings to 'B+' from 'BB+' on senior unsecured
bonds issued by HC, and subsidiaries HeidelbergCement Finance B.V., Hanson
Ltd., and Hanson Australia Funding Ltd. We have assigned a recovery rating of '5' to these bonds, indicating our expectation for modest (10%-30%) recovery in the event of a payment default.

All the ratings remain on CreditWatch with negative implications, where
they had been initially placed on Oct. 24, 2008.

"The rating actions reflect our increasing concerns about the group's
ability--and at what cost--to either obtain covenant waivers to prevent what we consider is a highly probable risk of breach at end-June 2009 and/or to refinance large debt maturities in mid-2010," said Standard & Poor's credit
analyst Xavier Buffon. "The risk of covenant breach at year-end 2008 continues to exist, but is less likely than in June 2009, in our view.

At this stage, we do not anticipate that the financial difficulties at HC's controlling shareholder, reported in the press, would further stress the group's near-term liquidity. But we believe these issues could further complicate refinancing options and they remove any hope for immediate fresh equity at HC."

The ratings integrate HC's aggressive financial policy and large debt
burden, stemming from the mostly debt-financed €14 billion acquisition of
Hanson PLC in mid-2007; weak liquidity, high exposure to the current cyclical
construction downturn in several mature construction markets, and the
industry's heavy capital and energy intensiveness.

Mitigating these weaknesses are HC's strong market position as a leading global player in heavy construction materials, extensive geographic and market diversity, and still good profitability overall, aided by resilient prices--all of which translate into still significant cash flow generation.

"If liquidity further deteriorates, particularly because of working capital issues, or if HC makes no noticeable progress in early 2009 toward preventing a covenant breach at midyear and refinancing the large maturities in mid-2010, we would lower the ratings," said Mr. Buffon.

We could also take negative rating action sooner if it seems that any new
developments at the controlling shareholder level could impair HC's credit
standing.

If the group successfully tackles these issues, downward rating pressure
would likely be alleviated.

 

[Imark]

18 Dicembre 2008

HC ottiene un waiver una tantum su di un covenant riguardante il prestito erogato alla società da un gruppo di banche all’atto dell’acquisizione della britannica Hanson Plc. La modifica richiesta riguarda il limite al leverage ammesso, con un rapporto debt/EBITDA che passa da 4x a 4,25x per un periodo di prova, così da tenere conto delle variazioni del cambio su di una quota di debito denominata in USD.

Il periodo di prova sarà compreso fra il 31/12 c.a. ed il 31/03 2009. Il waiver ha ottenuto il consenso del 90% dei creditori di HC.

RLPC-HeidelbergCement loan waiver passed-source

Wed Dec 17, 2008 6:36am EST

LONDON, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Lenders to HeidelbergCement AG (HEIG.DE) have passed a waiver relaxing a covenant on loans used to back the acquisition of UK-based Hanson in mid-2007, a bank source close to the deal said on Wednesday.
The request passed with more than 90 percent lender consent, the source said.
The request, which will adjust the debt-to-EBITDA ratio covenant on the deal to 4.25 times from 4 times over a test period, would recognise the effects of currency changes on the company's dollar-denominated debt.

The one-time waiver covers the covenant test period beginning on Dec. 31. The company will provide more information to lenders in March 2009.
A second banking source said previously that the request was not radical but was sensible in the current financial climate.

Over the past two months, HeidelbergCement's senior debt has been downgraded to sub-investment grade levels over refinancing concerns. The company is rated BB- by Standard and Poor's, Ba3 by Moody's and BB- by Fitch.

In 2007, HeidelbergCement completed 8.75 billion pounds ($13.62 billion) and 3.4 billion euros ($4.76 billion) in acquisition financing to back the takeover of Hanson via bookrunners Deutsche Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland.
(Reporting by Alasdair Reilly; Editing by Sharon Lindores)

 

[Imark]

27 Dicembre 2008

La famiglia Merckle pare intenzionata a cedere alle banche il 53% di HC a fronte di un rifinanziamento per 700 mln euro accordato alla holding di famiglia Spohn Cement, attraverso la quale i Merckle avevano acquistato HC. L’intento dichiarato delle banche è quello di conservare unito il pacchetto di maggioranza di HC per venderlo cumulativamente ad un investitore strategico al recupero dei mercati azionari e possibilmente fra il 3° ed il 4° trimestre 2009.

Merckles May Surrender 53% Stake in HeidelbergCement (Update2)
By Angela Cullen and Aaron Kirchfeld

Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Germany’s billionaire Merckle family may be forced to surrender a 53 percent stake in HeidelbergCement AG to banks, part of last-minute efforts to keep its investment companies afloat, three people familiar with the situation said.

A group of more than 30 banks led by Commerzbank AG, Deutsche Bank AG, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg demanded the stake in return for a 700 million-euro ($971 million) refinancing package for the family’s Spohn Cement GmbH investment unit, said the people, who declined to be identified as the plan isn’t public. HeidelbergCement shares surged as much as 13 percent.

Adolf Merckle, 74, has an estimated $9.2 billion fortune that puts him 94th on Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people this year. He has sought emergency funding for more than two months as the family’s spiraling debts threaten holdings including Spohn, drug wholesaler Phoenix Pharmahandel AG and the VEM Vermoegensverwaltung GmbH investment unit, which owes banks about 5 billion euros after wrong-way bets on Volkswagen AG and other stock trades, the people said.

“This is a signal that Merckle has very little bargaining room left,” said Stefan Mueller, managing partner at Proprietary Partners AG in Frankfurt. “The banks want to get access to Merckle’s assets and help prop them up.”

HeidelbergCement rose as much as 3.39 euros to 30.20 euros, marking the biggest increase in almost two weeks, in Frankfurt trading. The Heidelberg-based company, which last week fell to the lowest level since August 2003, traded at 29.95 euros as of 3:26 p.m. for a market value of 3.74 billion euros.

Strategic Investor

Under terms of the offer sent late Dec. 19 to the Merckles, the banks agreed to keep the HeidelbergCement stake in one block with the aim of selling the shares in a coordinated action to a strategic investor when stock markets recover, possibly in the third or fourth quarter of next year, the people said. Dividends paid by HeidelbergCement would be lodged in a pledged account and used to pay down the debt, the people said.

The lenders also agreed to a standstill on claims after the family couldn’t pay interest on Spohn’s debt, the people said.

Spokesmen for Frankfurt-based Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank, Edinburgh-based RBS and LBBW of Stuttgart declined to comment. The four lenders make up the so-called steering committee leading negotiations with the Merckle family.

“We don’t comment on the details of negotiations with the banks,” said Vivien Kremer, spokeswoman for Dresden-based VEM. She reiterated earlier comments that the Merckle family aims to agree with lenders on a bridge loan before Dec. 25.

Collateral

Merckle used loans to Spohn in 2005 to gain control of HeidelbergCement. At the time, he pledged the shares purchased by the Norderfriedrichskoog, Germany-based investment vehicle to the lenders as collateral for the financing.

HeidelbergCement’s declining stock, which has lost 72 percent of its value this year, led the banks to seek additional financial guarantees from the billionaire in October, the people said.

Adding to his debt woes, Merckle borrowed 415 million euros from Phoenix in an attempt to plug the losses at VEM, also leaving the drug wholesaler in need of immediate financing, two people familiar with the situation said last week.

Merckle hired insolvency lawyer Eberhard Braun and threatened to throw VEM into bankruptcy court unless lenders provide him with capital to restructure his companies, two people familiar with the situation said Dec. 10. This came on top of earlier demands for bridge financing to pay his immediate obligations.

 

[Imark]

E siamo ai giorni di oggi: il suicidio del capofamiglia dei Merckle aggiunge una nota drammatica alla vicenda.

Con esso si riducono le possibilità che la quota di controllo di HC rimanga in capo alla famiglia e crescono quelle che passi alle banche creditrici.

Crolla il titolo azionario, rimbalzano i bond ...

Merckle’s HeidelbergCement Drops After Adolf Suicide (Update1)

By Mike Gavin and Tim Barwell
Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- The billionaire Merckle family’s HeidelbergCement AG dropped in Frankfurt trading after the suicide of Adolf Merckle increased the likelihood the company will be sold to creditors.

The building-materials supplier, based in Heidelberg, slid 6.2 percent to 31.26 euros. The Merckles also own stakes in drug wholesaler Phoenix Pharmahandel AG and generic drugmaker Ratiopharm GmbH, both closely held.

Investments in carmaker Volkswagen AG as well as HeidelbergCement’s 70 percent slump last year battered Merckle’s VEM Vermoegensverwaltung GmbH, forcing the investment arm into survival talks with banks. The 74-year-old Merckle sought a bridge loan to rescue VEM after betting on a drop in Volkswagen shares, when they later gained on Porsche SE’s moves to take control of its rival.

“It remains to be seen whether the shareholding goes to the banks or stays with the family, albeit the latter seems more difficult now,” said Tobias Woerner, an analyst at MF Global Securities, referring to HeidelbergCement. “The banks have been in the sector before, and may take it on and wait for a recovery. Given the high level of debt we may see a piecemeal breakup.”

Merckle committed suicide, “broken” by financial woes, his family said in a statement today. He was hit by a train yesterday near his hometown of Blaubeuren, southeast of Stuttgart, Die Welt newspaper reported. VEM owed about 5 billion euros at the end of last year, people familiar with the matter said on Dec. 22.

Refinancing Continues

The death of the family head, whose estimated $9.2 billion fortune put him 94th on Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people, doesn’t have any impact on the refinancing process, VEM said.

Merckle used loans to the family’s Spohn Cement GmbH investment unit in 2005 to gain control of HeidelbergCement and the German cement maker paid tribute to him in a separate statement, lauding his role in building up the company.

Merckle in mid-2007 paid $18 billion to add British aggregates supplier Hanson Plc. At the time, it was the biggest- ever takeover in the building-materials industry.

The purchase saddled the company with debt, including a 5.5 billion-euro credit loan maturing in May 2010. Moody’s Investors Service last month cut its rating on HeidelbergCement to Ba3 with a negative outlook, citing refinancing needs, a market slowdown and the possible financial problems of the major shareholder.

Drug Holdings

A divestment of Ratiopharm would coincide with the sale of rival generic-drug maker Actavis Group hf, the Iceland-based company controlled by billionaire Thor Bjorgolfsson.

Ratiopharm, founded in 1973, was Germany’s first generic- drug company. It sells more than 750 versions of branded medicines, the most prominent of which is a copy of Bayer AG’s original aspirin painkiller. Based in Ulm, Germany, it employs about 5,400 people and had 1.8 billion euros in 2007 sales.

Merckle borrowed 415 million euros from Phoenix in an attempt to plug the losses at VEM, also leaving the drug wholesaler in need of immediate financing, two people familiar with the situation said on Dec. 22. Today’s drop left HeidelbergCement with a market value of less than 4 billion euros.

“HeidelbergCement has some of the best positions in the industry,” said MF Global’s Woerner. “It was the debt coming with the Hanson acquisition in context of the credit crunch, which put it under such financial strain. From a human perspective the outcome is very regrettable, albeit I hope that there will be a good ending for the employees of the group.”

 

[Imark]

L'efficace sintesi della vicenda recente di HC da parte del WSJ: debito elevato, scadenze corte, liquidità modesta, prospettive del business all'insegna del declino.

JANUARY 8, 2009

HeidelbergCement's Crumbling Prospects

By MATTHEW CURTIN

Adolf Merckle's suicide spotlights the shaky state of the billionaire's business interests.

Despite negotiating a €400 million ($545.2 million) bridge loan shortly before his death -- to buy time to repay debts incurred on a failed speculation in Volkswagen shares -- his empire was crumbling.

Take HeidelbergCement, his biggest asset and the fourth-largest global cement producer. In 2007, shortly after Mr. Merckle's bid for British rival Hanson, Heidelberg had a market value of nearly €13 billion. Now its future looks precarious.

Mr. Merckle financed the Hanson deal entirely via debt, saddling Heidelberg with the highest leverage in its sector. Net debt is nearly six times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. And much of Heidelberg's debt is short term. Rolling €1.3 billion this year and €5.5 billion next could be punitively expensive.

Thanks to a tiny free float and Mr. Merckle's stake-building, Heidelberg's market capitalization is still €3.9 billion. But the company's credit default swaps price in the risk of an imminent default. Cash flow is being squeezed. The U.S. cement market -- the rationale for the Hanson deal -- is predicted to have shrunk more than 10% in 2008.

With Heidelberg 80% owned by Merckle companies, it can't call on its main shareholders for fresh capital. And Heidelberg's rivals, also facing high leverage and collapsing markets, aren't obvious bidders. Heidelberg appears at the mercy of its banks, as Mr. Merckle himself was.

Whether there is sufficient value in Mr. Merckle's other assets to meet debts is unclear. But the sorry tale is another reminder of how the magic of leverage can turn to dust.

 

[Imark]

Come avrete compreso, la vicenda di HC è molto travagliata, i bond sono a rating speculativo e le scadenze corte sul debito comportano un rischio default non indifferente.

L'investimento in questi titoli va valutato con estrema cautela e probabilmente vale la pena escluderlo anche per il cattivo momento tanto del debito HY in generale quanto del comparto in cui è presente HC in particolare.

Per completezza di informazione del 3D, i Bond più scambiati sull'euromercato...

il 4,75% HC Finance 2009

http://anleihen.onvista.de/snapshot.html?ID_INSTRUMENT=248926

Il 6,375% HC Finance 2012

http://anleihen.onvista.de/snapshot.html?ID_INSTRUMENT=19386626

Il 5,625% HC Finance 2018

http://anleihen.onvista.de/snapshot.html?ID_INSTRUMENT=18104704

 

[Imark]

Avevo dimenticato di dire che il reinserimento del materiale informativo è terminato...

Utilizzate pure il 3d come tutti gli altri...