CGG obtains 18-month bridge loan from Credit Suisse for Veritas DGC acquisition

New York, Sept. 5 - Compagnie Generale de Geophysique has received a commitment for a bridge loan from Credit Suisse International to help finance the $1.5 billion cash portion of its planned acquisition of Veritas DGC Inc.

CGG announced Tuesday that it was offering to buy Veritas DGC for a total of $3.1 billion. The offer is made up of 2.2501 CGG American Depositary Shares for 51% of Veritas' shares and $75.00 in cash for the other 49% of Veritas' shares.

Closing is expected by the end of the year, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.

CGG expects the combined company to generate "strong" cash flow that will give it "significant" capacity to pay down debt, according to an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In addition, CGG said it has a commitment to a balance sheet with "optimized" leverage and to "sound financial discipline."

Ahead of the transaction, CGG is rated Ba2 by Moody's Investors Service and BB- by Standard & Poor's while Veritas DGC is rated Ba3 by Moody's and BB by S&P.

CGG is a Paris-based provider of oilfield services including seismic data while Veritas DGC is a Houston-based provider of geophysical information to the oil industry.

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