Messer issues EUR 950 million in debut Schuldschein transaction

Messer, the world's leading privately owned specialist for industrial, medical and specialty gases, placed Schuldschein loans for the first time and successfully raised EUR 950 million with German and international investors.

Placement of the Schuldschein loans started with an initial volume of EUR 300 million. The transaction was very well received by the Schuldschein market and Messer was able to upsize the final volume more than three times at very attractive terms. The Schuldschein transaction consisted of tranches with three-, five-, and seven-year tenors. Tranches with fixed as well as variable interest terms were signed. Final spreads in all tranches were set at the lower end of the initial reoffer spread ranges. Proceeds from the Schuldschein loans are applied for partial refinancing of a EUR 1,450 million bridge facility taken up for the acquisition of all shares in Messer Industries from minority owner CVC Capital Partners last year.

Helmut Kaschenz, Chief Financial Officer of Messer, says: “After the successful private placement of Senior Notes with institutional investors in March 2024, we were able to conclude another sizeable step of our take-out strategy within just a few months. The high demand for Messer’s debut transaction in the Schuldschein market emphasizes investor’s confidence in the development and reliability of our company. With this transaction, Messer also successfully diversified its funding instruments.”

BayernLB, Deutsche Bank AG, Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen Girozentrale and UniCredit Bank GmbH acted as Joint Lead Arrangers in the transaction.