Air Liquide’s treasury team has scooped the award for European Treasury Team of the Year in this year’s Deals of the Year Awards for its work on the financing to acquire Airgas: a game-changing purchase for Air Liquide. The acquisition was successfully completed on 23 May 2016, following US Federal Trade Commission clearance.
In addition to the deal itself, over the past 12 months, the gas solution company’s treasury team has managed to plan, arrange and successfully execute a full range of financing and risk management transactions connected to the acquisition.
The deal and supporting financing work represent an array of ‘firsts’ for Air Liquide. The team put in place Air Liquide’s first ever $12bn bridge facility for the company. The team also worked on a €3bn five-tranche senior bond offering in June – the first-ever euro offering of such magnitude. To date, Air Liquide has rarely issued more than €500m in one go. The treasury team also completed a $4.5bn five-tranche senior bond offering in September. This represented another first for the company as its first-ever public US dollar offering.
In a market that has seen sporadic bouts of turbulences… Air Liquide managed to seize the most opportune market windows
The €3bn bond issue was generously oversubscribed – it generated more than €12bn of orders. Its timing was noteworthy as well; it was executed two days before the European Central Bank (ECB) started buying back corporate bonds and just prior to the Brexit vote.
Said one nominating bank: “In a market that has seen sporadic bouts of turbulences, from Brexit to navigating ECB policy decisions, pre-empting the US elections and large volumes of issuances, Air Liquide managed to seize the most opportune market windows, and each and every trade was extremely well received by the markets and seen as a ‘marquee trade’.”
In September, the treasury team executed a €3.3bn rights issue – the first rights issue for the French company in several decades. The rights issue was oversubscribed, illustrating strong support from Air Liquide’s investor base as well as orders for unsubscribed shares.
The €3.3bn rights issue was the second-largest equity capital markets transaction in Europe in 2016, and the largest rights issue in France since 2009. It also represented the final step of the refinancing of the $13.4bn acquisition of Airgas.
The nominating bank added: “The tasks undertaken were significant and, in many cases, it was the first time the Air Liquide treasury team had to deal with such large and complex transactions in a limited time frame. The treasury team was fully engaged early in the process to shape the acquisition financing and capital markets refinancing strategy. The financing was perfectly integrated into the M&A process.
“Excellent multifaceted execution as the team broke new ground to deliver M&A financing”
Swedish music streaming company Spotify also attracted plaudits from the judges for its approach to managing growth, building solid technological foundations and a strong operating focus.
One of Spotify’s primary challenges is managing payments from some 40 million customers worldwide, based across 60 markets.
Head of corporate development and treasury at Spotify Johan Bergqvist places a strong premium on technological solutions that will cope with fast growth and that will work across global markets, and opting for a Software as a Service model to accommodate those requirements.
Spotify’s treasury team and bank worked to build a cloud-based FX solution and developed a hedging programme using best-in-class technology.
During the first half of 2016, Bergqvist and his team of four closed one of the largest convertibles ever for a tech unicorn, securing a $1bn financing, to support Spotify’s growth programme.
The Treasurer's Deals of the Year Awards recognise the outstanding work of treasurers, both within the treasury community and the wider business world. Through them we champion the success and achievements of treasury teams that have stood out in the market over the prior 12 months. Winning an award is a great way to strengthen your organisation's and your treasury's profile, bringing peer and industry acknowledgement. Find out more here.