Church & Dwight to increase credit facility for Unilever oral brands acquisition

By Sara Rosenberg

New York, Sept. 10 - Church & Dwight Co. Inc. plans to finance the acquisition of Unilever's oral care brands by increasing an existing medium-term credit facility managed by JPMorgan.

Further details on the financing are not being released at this time, a syndicate source told Prospect News.

Under the acquisition agreement, Church & Dwight will pay $104 million in cash at closing, plus additional cash performance-based payments of between $5 million and $12 million. The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2003, subject to regulatory approvals.

In the fourth quarter of 2001, the company obtained a $510 million credit facility consisting of a $125 million five-year term loan A, a $285 million six-year term loan B and a $100 million revolver. The term loan A, which was repaid in full during the second quarter of 2003, paid interest at Libor plus 200 basis points and the term loan B paid interest at Libor plus 250 basis points, with rates determined based on the ratio of total debt to EBITDA during the second quarter of 2003, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"This transaction strengthens our strategically important oral care business, tripling our unit sales and more than doubling our dollar sales within the U.S. oral care sector. We believe this acquisition is similar to the 2001 acquisitions of USA Detergents, which doubled our position in the laundry detergents business, and the consumer products business of Carter-Wallace, which more than doubled our position in the deodorant antiperspirant business," said Robert A. Davies, III, chairman and chief executive officer, in a news release.

Church & Dwight is a Princeton, N.J. manufacturer and marketer of personal care, household and specialty products.

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