ROME, Dec 13 Reuters Italy39;s defence and aerospace group Leonardo announced on Tuesday the early repayment of a 500 million euro 532 million term loan, as part of efforts to reduce debt and the impact of rising interest rates.

The company also announced the pricing of the redemption of the entire nominal amount of the 7.375 Notes due in 2039 and 6.25 Notes due in 2040 for an outstanding principal amount of 123.63 million and 181.46 million respectively.

The bonds will be redeemed on Dec. 15, for a total overall payment of 171.56 million for the 2039 maturity and a total of 231.6 million for the maturity 2040.

These finalised transactions confirm the path to reduce the group39;s gross debt, taking advantage of current market opportunities, CEO Alessandro Profumo said in a statement.

The early repayment of the term loan … will allow us to reduce the gross debt of 500 million euros and to contain the cost of interest in 2023 while, through the redemption of our bonds issued in the US, we will pay down the most expensive financial instruments in our balance sheet, he added.

The term loan, which had been due to mature next November, will be repaid on Dec. 29.

Last month, when it presented its thirdquarter results, Leonardo lowered its guidance for fullyear 2022 net debt to around 3 billion euros, from a previous objective of around 3.1 billion euros. 1 0.9405 euros

Reporting by Francesca Piscioneri, editing by Alvise Armellini and Keith Weir

Source Reuters