In January 2020, CLAAS returned to the German private placement (Schuldscheindarlehen) market with a transaction for a total of €250 million. The placement was again significantly oversubscribed, confirming the strong investor interest in the transaction.

The proceeds of this transaction were used for general corporate financing, as well as to refinance the 2015 German private placement that matured in August 2020.

Approximately 70 domestic and international institutional investors participated in the transaction. Of the four tranches with maturities in 2027 and 2029, one has a variable coupon and three have fixed rate coupons. The credit margins were set at the lower end of the marketing range, with coupons of 0.60% to 0.75% per annum.

In addition to traditional marketing via the distribution channels of the participating banks, the transaction was also marketed via the DEBTVISION digital platform.

As part of the issue, CLAAS also offered a forward tranche, where a binding contract is entered into but the tranche is not paid out until a later date. This gave existing investors an early reinvestment option on outstanding private placements from 2015, while optimizing CLAAS’ interest expense until the maturity of the previous transaction. This option was very well received by the market. The 6-month forward period of the CLAAS transaction was the longest forward period ever placed in the German private placement market, without an interest rate premium.

Capital market.

ABS Program

2020 German private placement

2023 German private placement

Syndicated credit facility