Fitch Rates Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold's New Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock 'B+'.NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of -- Fitch has rated the Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.'s (Freeport) mandatory convertible Mandatory Convertible A type of convertible bond that has a required conversion or redemption feature. Either on or before a contractual conversion date, the holder must convert the mandatory convertible into the underlying common stock. preferred stock Stock shares that have preferential rights to dividends or to amounts distributable on liquidation, or to both, ahead of common shareholders. Preferred stock is given preference over common stock. Holders of preferred stock receive dividends at a fixed annual rate. issue at 'B+'. The issue is expected to generate some $1 billion in gross proceeds. The Outlook is Stable. The proceeds of the new preferred issue together with a secondary offering of 35 million shares of common stock will be used to repay borrowings under the secured term loans used to finance, in part, the acquisition of Phelps Dodge Phelps Dodge Corporation is a former United States company founded in 1834 by Anson Greene Phelps and William E. Dodge. On March 19, 2007, it was acquired by Freeport-McMoRan and now operates under the name Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. Corporation. The mandatory convertible preferred stock is not redeemable and has a mandatory conversion date of May 1, 2010. The issue will rank on parity with Freeport's outstanding 5 1/2% convertible perpetual preferred stock. The ratings reflect Freeport's position as the world's second-largest copper producer, its diversified operations and strong liquidity, as well as the company's exposure to copper prices and its relatively high financial leverage. The outlook is for copper producers to continue to benefit from a strong pricing environment over the near term. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used. In many cases, terms of service are used as a contractual agreement between a company and users of a service they provide. of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion