Debt information

Financing Policy

Bureau Veritas has access to well-diversified sources of financing including bond issues, US Private Placements and bank loans with a balanced maturity profile.

The Group has the policy to finance its assets in the concerned currencies allowing a natural hedge of currency risk. Currency swaps are used to hedge subsidiaries’ cash surpluses and requirements in other currencies.

The Group monitors interest rate exposure so that less than 60% of its consolidated net debt can be exposed to a rise in interest rates. The Group may enter into hedging instruments for this purpose. No financial instruments are contracted for speculative purposes.

Debt structure

On May 17, 2018, Bureau Veritas SA signed a EUR 600 million multicurrency Revolving Credit Facility. This syndicated credit facility has a five-year maturity, with 2 one-year extension options, exercised in 2019 and 2020.

Given the financial strength of the Group, Bureau Veritas allowed the one-year EUR 500 million credit line, put in place in April 2020 during the pandemic, to expire in April 2021

The Revolving Credit Facility and US Private Placement (USPP) require compliance with certain bank covenants and ratios. At June 30, 2021, the adjusted net financial debt/EBITDA ratio was further reduced to 1.30x (from 2.00x last year) and the EBITDA/consolidated net financial expense ratio was 13.13x. As a precaution against a worsening pandemic, Bureau Veritas obtained a waiver from its banks and US Private Placement noteholders to relax its financial covenants at June 30, 2020, December 31, 2020 and June 30, 2021. In May 2021, Bureau Veritas exited early from the amendment negotiated with the USPP holders, allowing a return to the initial banking ratios. As a result, as of June 30, 2021, the ratio of adjusted net financial debt to EBITDA must be less than 3.5x and, only for the US Private Placement, the ratio of EBITDA to consolidated net financial expense must be greater than 5.5x.

At June 30, 2021, 99.8% of Group’s financial debt was fixed rate. The average maturity of the Group’s financial debt was 4.8 years. The blended average cost of funds over the half year was 2.4% excluding IFRS 16 impact (compared with 3.0% in the first half of 2020 excluding the impact of IFRS 16). Debt is primarily denominated in Euro (71%) and US dollars (26%).

Bond issues

At June 30, 2021, bond issues break down as follows:

In euros millions	Maturity	Coupon (%)	Nominal amount	Currency
2016	Sep. 2023	1.250%	500 million	EUR
2016	Sep. 2026	2.000%	200 million	EUR
2018	Jan. 2025	1.875%	500 million	EUR
2019	Jan. 2027	1.125%	500 million	EUR

US private Placements

At June 30, 2021, US Private Placement break down as follows:

In currency millions	Maturity	Coupon (%)	Nominal amount	Currency
2017 USPP	Sep. 2027 Jul. 2028	Fixed Fixed	200 million 155 million	USD USD
2018 USPP	Jan. 2029	Fixed	200 million	USD
2019 USPP	Jan. 2030	Fixed	200 million	USD

Bank facilities

At June 30, 2021, bank facilities break down as follows:

In currency millions	Maturity	Drawn amount	Available amount	Currency
2018 Syndicated Credit Facility	May 2025	-	600 million	EUR
CNY bank financing	Sep. 2022	545 million	205 million	CNY

Financial operation Press Releases

Date	Title	Press Release
24 Feb 2021	Bureau Veritas links its syndicated credit facility financial terms to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) indicators	Download
12 Nov. 2019	Bureau Veritas successfully completes a bond issuance: EUR 500 million non-rated maturity January 2027	Download
28 Sep. 2018	Bureau Veritas successfully issued a EUR 500 million non-rated new bond issue maturity January 2025	Download
4 Sep 2017	Bureau Veritas successfully raises USD 355 million 10-year USPP	Download
31 Aug. 2016	Bureau Veritas successfully raises EUR 700 million through a 7-year and 10-year non-rated new bond issue	Download
16 Jan. 2014	Bureau Veritas successfully launches a second bond issue	Download

Prospectus

Date	Prospectus
14 Nov. 2019	Download
2 Oct. 2018	Download