Ohio Casualty Announces Senior Notes Offering
Fairfield-based insurer Ohio Casualty Corp. announced that it has priced a $200 million offering of its 7.3 percent senior notes due 2014. It is anticipated that the transaction will close on June 29, 2004. Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Goldman, Sachs & Co., and Merrill Lynch & Co. are acting as book runners for the offering.
The net proceeds from the offering will be about $197.4 million, the company said in a statement. The company intends to use the net proceeds of the offering principally to repay a portion of the $201 million aggregate principal amount of the company’s 5 percent convertible notes due March 19, 2022, which the company has the option to redeem after March 23, 2005, in whole or in part.
In addition, the company said it may use a portion of the net proceeds to repurchase shares in an amount up to the equivalent number of shares to be issued if holders of convertible notes elect to convert in accordance with their terms. Until the funds are needed for such purposes, the company intends to invest the net proceeds in taxable fixed-income securities. The securities are being offered as part of a shelf registration statement which was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 16, 2003.