Grand Metropolitan PLC will require no additional bank loans to finance its $2.6 billion acquisition offer of Pet Inc.
The offer was announced on Tuesday and is valued at $26 per share.
Funding for the acquisition of the company that offers the Old El Paso and Progresso brands comes from a combination of a five-year $600 million convertible bond led by Morgan Stanley, cash generated from divestitures in companies such as the Alpo Pet Foods Inc., and commercial paper.
A published report said the deal would be partially financed with bank debt, but the company said it will use its existing bank loans only as back-up for the commercial paper.
Grand Met last summer arranged the consolidation of credit agreements with 24 banks totaling over $3 billion.
But Grand Met said that that the consolidation was not done in anticipation of this deal. Nor is Grand Met planning to seek refinancing of its existing lines of credit.
Analysts suggested that Campbell Soup Co.'s acquisition of Pace Foods Ltd. of San Antonio last year provided the additional incentive to make the deal between Grand Met and Pet a reality. That $1.12 billion deal gave Campbell control of the largest producer of Mexican sauces.
Although mergers generate considerable loan volume, banking experts said a deal with no new bank financing is not unusual.
"Most of the large companies have fairly sizable commercial paper back- up facilities," said Steve Miller, a vice president at the Loan Pricing Corp., noting that there was no new bank financing in the Campbell deal either.
Mr. Miller said that new bank facilities are usually arranged for big companies when the deals are conspicuously large, such as this year's Chemical Bank-led $10 billion acquisition by American Home Products of American Cyanamid.
Grand Met has used acquisition financing in the past, with a $6 billion facility for its 1989 purchase of Pillsbury Inc., which was arranged by National Westminster PLC and Barclays Bank PLC.
Despite the belief that H.J. Heinz and Conagra were both suitors for Pet, another bid is not anticipated.
Some reports estimate the cash portion of the Grand Met deal at $1 billion.
