DuPont Gets $3 Billion Financing Package, Limits Investment
DuPont Gets $3 Billion Financing Package to Weather Pandemic
(Bloomberg) -- DuPont Inc. secured $3 billion in financing to help it ride out the coronavirus that has decimated demand in the automotive industry and other end markets.
The maker of materials used in car interiors and headlamps secured a new revolving credit facility valued at $1 billion and arranged $2 billion in financing to meet debt maturing in November. DuPont said its results held up in the first quarter but it is bracing for further turbulence.
“As this pandemic expands globally, the uncertainty around demand in select end markets continues,” Chief Executive Officer Ed Breen said in a statement Monday. “We will remain agile, continuing to take swift, prudent actions as conditions continue to evolve.”
The new financing provides DuPont with a liquidity bridge before it closes the $26.2 billion sale of a nutrition division to International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. that will generate a cash payment of $7.3 billion. Breen is also delaying some investment and idling several plants after the virus outbreak brought swaths of the car industry to a standstill.
The Wilmington, Delaware-based company became the latest industrial group to suspend full-year guidance.
For the first quarter, it expects adjusted operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of about $1.3 billion, above a previous forecast, driven by demand for personal-protection gear, water filtration, food, probiotics and electronics. Consumers stocking up on food and turning to health supplements amid the virus are bolstering sales of ingredients, while DuPont has boosted production of its Tyvek fabric used in isolation gowns.
Earnings for the quarter will run between 82 cents and 84 cents a share, adjusted for impairments on noncore assets, on revenue of about $5.2 billion, the company said.
DuPont’s stock rose 3% to $39.50 in light volume before the start of regular trading in New York. Shares of the company, scheduled to report results on May 5, have dropped 40% this year, compared with IFF’s 3% decline.
Winder Investments, IFF’s largest investor, is backing the so-called Reverse Morris Trust transaction, and increased its stake to 22.59% at the end of March, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
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