Global law firm Ashurst advised UBS AG, Australia Branch and Merrill Lynch Equities (Australia) Limited as the Joint Lead Managers in relation to the issuance of A$400 million 1.625 percent senior unsecured convertible notes by Flight Centre Travel Group Limited ("FLT"), an ASX listed company.
The issued notes are convertible into ordinary shares of FLT and have a final maturity date of 1 November 2028. Certain shareholders entered into stock borrowing and lending arrangements with an affiliate of UBS Securities Australia Limited, up to an aggregate maximum amount of 20 million shares of FLT. A delta placement of approximately 3.5 million ordinary shares has been executed concurrently with the convertible notes issuance.
This is the second time Ashurst advised the joint lead managers on the issuance of convertible bonds issued by FLT. Ashurst also acted as the joint lead managers' legal counsel in FLT's convertible bond offering in November 2020.
FLT is one of the world's largest travel groups with a vast leisure and corporate travel sales network that extends throughout Australia and New Zealand, the Americas, EMEA and Asia. The offering will allow FLT to retire short-term debt, take advantage of current interest rates to secure low-cost fixed rate funding and capitalise on growth opportunities globally as leisure and corporate travel markets continue to rapidly re-open.
"We are pleased to assist the Joint Lead Managers on this successful transaction and on a second convertible bond offering for Flight Centre," lead partner Jini Lee commented. "This is through the combined efforts of our Hong Kong and Sydney teams as we look forward to renewed confidence in the travel sector as we emerge from the pandemic."
The transaction was led by Jini Lee, with the support from Sydney based partners, Jamie Ng (Global Markets), Caroline Smart (Global Markets), Greg Golding (Corporate), Ross Zaurrini (Competition) and Vivian Chang (Tax).
