Telstra announces 500 million bond, further strengthens balance sheet

Friday 17th April 2020

Friday 17 April – Telstra today announced it had priced a €500 million (approximately AUD $860 million) bond issue, which will further strengthen its balance sheet.

Telstra priced the €500 million bond issue (the Notes) under its Debt Issuance Program Offering Circular dated 20 March 2020. The Notes are expected to be issued on 23 April 2020 and have a 10-year maturity. Telstra will use the proceeds from the Notes for general corporate purposes including pre-funding of future debt maturities.

Since mid-March Telstra has also secured an additional $940 million in bank facilities, and Telstra now has a total of $3.6 billion of committed bank facilities.

The bond issue and the additional bank facilities are both well below Telstra’s current average cost of funds.

CEO Andrew Penn said the bond issue and the additional bank facilities demonstrated the company’s financial strength and attractiveness to global capital markets, while further strengthening its strong liquidity position during a volatile period in global financial markets.

On 1 April 2020 credit rating agency S&P reaffirmed Telstra’s A- (stable) credit rating and on 2 April 2020 Moody’s reaffirmed Telstra’s A2 (stable) credit rating.

“Telstra’s continued access to low-cost capital and A-band credit rating demonstrates the strength of the business during this very volatile time,” Mr Penn said.

Source: Telstra Market Release

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