Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Extends Year’s Largest Bond Offering

Forbes reported that Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold extended a  $6.5 billion offering across four tranches of in support of two large recent acquisitions,  Plains Exploration & Production (PXP) and McMoRan Exploration.

As quoted in the market report:

Ratings agencies affirmed the company’s ratings on the news of the acquisitions, though S&P revised its outlook on the BBB rating to negative, from stable. S&P noted that – after FCX reduced debt by more than $3.5 billion since 2009, to $4.8 billion – adjusted pro forma total debt will rise to roughly $22 billion as a result of the transaction, bumping debt to EBITDA to 2.5 times and funds from operations to debt to 27%, or “levels we would consider to be more consistent with an ‘intermediate’ financial-risk profile.

To view the whole Forbes report, click here.