5 - 11 October 2000

Eden Leisure bond issue to close today

by Franco Aloisio

The Eden Leisure Lm10m bond issue which closes today at 3pm, is expected to be fully subscribed to, the group’s managing director Ian De Cesare said yesterday.
Launched on 25 September, the bond issue had to close tomorrow, yet Eden Leisure on Tuesday announced that the issue would be closed a day earlier. The bond issue was underwritten by HSBC.
Mr De Cesare said the bond issue was very well received considering that close to Lm45m were soaked up by companies and government bond issues in the last month.
The interest rate on the bonds will be at 6.7 per cent and will become due and payable in arrears on 12 October, with the first payment due on 12 October 2001. The bonds mature in 2010.
Mr Decesare said Eden Leisure Group’s employee take-up of the issue was higher than expected: “All of our senior management invested in the issue as well as many other valued employees who also wanted to be a part of our growth,” he said.
The money was raised to finance part of the development underway in St George’s Bay including a 450- room Inter-Continental Hotel, 40 timeshare units, an IMAX theatre, a state of the art gymnasium, an ice-skating rink and a car park.
The total development will cost Lm20m, and the bond issue is expected to cover half of the expense, while the group has taken out a 15-year bank loan to fund the remainder.