Celanese Corporation Executes Series of Transactions to Extend Debt Maturity Profile and Lower Net Borrowing Rate

Mon, August 14 2023

Opportunistic refinancing transaction preserves flexibility to execute deleveraging strategy

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Celanese Corporation (NYSE: CE), a global chemical and specialty materials company, today announced a series of recent transactions to extend its debt maturity profile and lower the total effective net borrowing rate to the Company.

“As we stated last summer and more recently with our second quarter earnings, when we secured financing for the M&M acquisition, we intentionally built a shorter-term debt maturity profile to avoid locking in abnormally wider spreads on longer-term debt and to maintain flexibility to refinance in the future,” said Scott Richardson, executive vice president and chief financial officer. “We positioned ourselves to be highly opportunistic and are pleased to have very cost effectively refinanced and extended maturities of a portion of our debt maturing over the next few years.”

On August 10, 2023 the Company’s subsidiary, Celanese US Holdings LLC (the “Company”), has priced a registered offering (the “Offering”) of $3 billion aggregate principal amount of notes with maturities from 2028 through 2033 with interest rates ranging from 6.350% to 6.700% (the “Notes”). The Notes will be guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by the Company and certain Celanese domestic subsidiaries, similar to prior issuances. The Offering is expected to close on or about August 24, 2023. The net proceeds from the Offering of the Notes will be used (i) to fund the tender offer for up to $1.75 billion aggregate purchase price of our outstanding 5.900% Senior Notes due 2024, 6.050% Senior Notes due 2025 and 3.500% Senior Notes due 2024, and (ii) for repayment of other outstanding indebtedness, including the full amount outstanding under our three-year term loan credit agreement due 2025, and for other general corporate purposes.

With the completion of these refinancing transactions, the Company will extend the average maturity of its debt from 3.3 years to 4.6 years and reduce the total value of the combined 2023, 2024 and 2025 debt maturities from $6.4 billion to $3.4 billion.

The Company also entered into two cross-currency swaps to effectively convert $1.0 billion and $0.5 billion of the US dollar denominated Notes into euro-denominated and Japanese yen-denominated borrowing, respectively, at prevailing euro and yen interest rates.

Inclusive of the refinancing transactions and the impact of the euro and yen currency swaps, the effective total net borrowing rate for the Company will be approximately 4.67%, a decrease of approximately 14 basis points.

“With the completion of this series of transactions, we will have effectively eliminated the need to refinance any debt over the next several years and have also reduced our annual interest costs,” Scott Richardson continued. “These transactions are consistent with our strategy to proactively and opportunistically manage upcoming debt maturities and optimize our borrowing costs. Under our new debt maturity profile we believe we have maintained ample flexibility to aggressively pay down debt and to execute our deleveraging plan. We plan to assess further opportunities to de-risk our debt and lower our borrowing costs, including ongoing work to effectively redomicile a portion of our U.S. term loans to lower rate China debt.”

About Celanese

Celanese Corporation is a global chemical leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Our businesses use the full breadth of Celanese's global chemistry, technology and commercial expertise to create value for our customers, employees, shareholders and the corporation. As we partner with our customers to solve their most critical business needs, we strive to make a positive impact on our communities and the world through The Celanese Foundation. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 13,000 employees worldwide and had 2022 net sales of $9.7 billion. For more information about Celanese Corporation and its product offerings, visit www.celanese.com.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This release may contain “forward-looking statements,” which include information concerning the refinancing transactions, and the Company’s plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future revenues, cash flow, synergies, performance, capital expenditures and other information that is not historical information. When used in this release, the words “outlook,” “forecast,” “estimates,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “projects,” “plans,” “intends,” “believes,” “will” and variations of such words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based upon current expectations and beliefs and various assumptions. There can be no assurance that the Company will realize these expectations or that these beliefs will prove correct. There are a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this release. These include changes in currency exchange rates and interest rates, the effectiveness of our hedging activities; the successful closing of the refinancing transactions referenced herein; and the Company’s ability to realize the anticipated benefits of its hedging activities. Numerous other factors, many of which are beyond the Company’s control, could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed as forward-looking statements. Other risk factors include those that are discussed in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which it is made or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances.

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Investor Relations
Brandon Ayache
+1 972 443 8509
brandon.ayache@celanese.com

Media Relations – Global
Brian Bianco
+1 972 443 4400
media@celanese.com

Media Relations Europe (Germany)
Petra Czugler
+49 69 45009 1206
petra.czugler@celanese.com

Source: Celanese Corporation