debt placement

CEY have issued notes at 5.9% for US$200 mil which will allow debt reduction so that Anvil Hill will proceed. this is a positive, but the sp is down 11c this morning.

"Centennial Coal Company Limited (“Centennial”) (“AU: CEY”) advises that it has successfully issued US$205 million of long term senior unsecured notes (“Notes”) into the North American private placement debt market (“Debt Placement”), US$40 million of which was issued as Australian dollar (A$) floating rate Notes. The issue was completed on 7 December 2005 at a weighted average coupon of 5.90%. The Notes were issued in four tranches with bullet maturities of 7, 10, 12 and 15 years. The Debt Placement was completed at very competitive margins within a short period and was over-subscribed allowing it to be upsized by US$55 million to US$205 million. The proceeds will be used to repay and restructure existing bank debt. Commenting on the placement, Centennial’s Managing Director Bob Cameron said: “This is a good outcome for Centennial providing greater financial flexibility and a long term debt maturity profile, confirming that we have the financial resources in place to proceed with our Anvil Hill mine which will be a world class open cut mine.”