Alcatel-Lucent has found the cash and other funds to buy out some its credit lines which had been secured on patents and other intellectual property. Commenting on the announcement, Michel Combes, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent, said: "The early repayment of the senior secured loan taken out in January 2013 is another major milestone in our execution of The Shift Plan. Alcatel-Lucent has found the cash and other funds to buy out some its credit lines which had been secured on patents and other intellectual property. It says it has repaid - early and in full - the senior secured credit facility of an initial principal amount of $1.750bn entered into on 30 January 2013. This means it can now dispose of, or bargain with, the patents and property which had been held in limbo.
This senior secured credit facility was secured by various first-priority pledges on a material portion of the Alcatel-Lucent Group's assets, including substantially all patents and other intellectual property rights of Alcatel-Lucent USA, the Company and other of the Group's affiliates. These pledges will be consequently cancelled and released.
The early repayment of the senior secured credit facility has been implemented by using the proceeds from the issuance of bonds convertible into and/or exchangeable for new and/or existing shares of the Company maturing in 2019 and 2020 and by using Group's available cash.
Commenting on the announcement, Michel Combes, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent, said: "The early repayment of the senior secured loan taken out in January 2013 is another major milestone in our execution of The Shift Plan. Through the measures we have taken to strengthen our balance sheet, we have also been able to regain control of our own destiny, in particular, the release of intellectual property, giving us now the freedom and flexibility to leverage these assets as and how we see beneficial for Alcatel-Lucent's future."