Viasytems looks to quickly refinance $200 million 10½% bonds due 2010

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., Oct. 7 - Viasystems Group, Inc. plans to "aggressively" refinance about $200 million in bonds now that its stock merger with Merix Corp. has been announced, Viasystems' chief executive officer David Sindelar said Wednesday.

Beaverton, Ore.-based Merix and St. Louis-based rival Viasystems said Tuesday the two would combine to create the largest publicly held printed circuit board manufacturer in the United States. The deal also will turn Viasystems into a publicly traded company.

The combined companies will have about $215 million in debt, including $200 million of senior subordinated notes that are due January 2011 and carry a 10½% rate, Sindelar said on a conference call with analysts and investors on Wednesday.

"We've been kind of caught in the headlights of a car - we couldn't go out and refinance the bonds while the deal was about to be announced," he said.

"Now that we've got the merger transaction announced, we will move aggressively to see what the market has available for us. The bond markets are pretty hot right now."

Also as part of the merger terms, about 98% of holders of Merix's $70 million convertible senior subordinated notes due 2013 have agreed to exchange their notes for 1.4 million newly issued Viasystems shares plus $35 million in cash.

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