INEOS has today issued the following public announcement on the website of the Luxembourg stock exchange:
INEOS announces that INEOS group companies may in the future enter into transactions resulting in the group acquiring a modest proportion of the €1,630 million 7.875% Senior Notes Due 2016 issued by INEOS Group Holdings plc (‘IGH’), the $700 million 8.5% Senior Notes Due 2016 issued by IGH, and/or the €160 million 9.25% Senior Notes Due 2011 issued by INEOS Vinyls Finance plc (‘Senior Notes’).
If INEOS group companies do acquire Senior Notes in the future, it is intended that some of those Senior Notes will be cancelled in due course.
The group expects that it will acquire Senior Notes with a market value of around €35 million through such transactions over the course of the next few months. However, the exact number of Senior Notes that the group may acquire is not known as it depends on a number of factors, including the price at which the Senior Notes are trading and their liquidity.
END of announcement on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange
Additional Note to investors visiting the INEOS Investor Relations website.
As expected with any worldwide group of our size, at any one time we have a number of multi-million lawsuits in different jurisdictions that we have initiated (and likewise an equivalent number that have been brought against us). In one such case, the defendant company has recently made an offer to us whereby it will acquire Senior Notes of a certain market value and will then transfer them to INEOS by way of settlement.
We have assessed the value of this offer, taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of the case in question, the inherent litigation risk, and the alternative of continuing the lengthy and costly dispute process. We have concluded that this offer is a good opportunity that may not arise again and have therefore accepted.