The final deadline for requiring Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. to repurchase its Exchange Liquid Yield Option Notes due 2032 passed on 13 March 2008.
As of the repurchase deadline, approximately $0.6 billion of original principal amount of LYONs have been submitted for repurchase. All LYONs that were properly submitted for repurchase have been accepted at a price of $1,089.05 per LYON. The purchase price for the LYONs will be paid on March 14, 2008. Following this repurchase, $1.6 billion of original principal amount of LYONs will remain outstanding.
“We evaluated the benefits of our outstanding LYONs as part of our normal financing strategy and decided to amend the terms of these securities in advance of the put date on March 13, 2008. As a result, nearly three quarters of the bonds will remain outstanding and will continue to provide attractive, low-cost financing to Merrill Lynch,” says Nelson Chai, chief financial officer, Merrill Lynch.
To the extent that the stock price is above the “accreted conversion price,” which is calculated in accordance with the terms of the indenture governing the terms of these securities, Merrill Lynch’s fully diluted share count will include any “in the money” shares related to the $1.6 billion of LYONs which will remain outstanding.
As of 13 March 2008, the accreted conversion price for the LYONs is $66 per common share.