On October 8, 2019, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (the "Company") issued $900,000,000 aggregate principal amount of 2.600% Senior Notes due 2029 (the "Notes") in a public offering (the "USD Offering") pursuant to a registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-229951) and a preliminary prospectus supplement and prospectus supplement related to the offering of the Notes, each as previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") (Filing, 8-K, Thermo Fisher Scientific, OCT 8, 2019, View Source [SID1234551119]).
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On September 30, 2019, the Company issued €800,000,000 aggregate principal amount of 0.125% Senior Notes due 2025, €800,000,000 aggregate principal amount of 0.500% Senior Notes due 2028, €900,000,000 aggregate principal amount of 0.875% Senior Notes due 2031, €900,000,000 aggregate principal amount of 1.500% Senior Notes due 2039 and €1,000,000,000 aggregate principal amount of 1.875% Senior Notes due 2049 (the "Euro Offering").
The Notes were issued under an indenture, dated as of November 20, 2009 (the "Base Indenture"), and the Nineteenth Supplemental Indenture, dated as of October 8, 2019 (the "Supplemental Indenture" and, together with the Base Indenture, the "Indenture"), between the Company, as issuer, and The Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company, N.A., as trustee. The sale of the Notes was made pursuant to the terms of an Underwriting Agreement, dated September 24, 2019 (the "Underwriting Agreement"), among the Company, as issuer, and BofA Securities, Inc., Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC and HSBC Securities (USA) Inc., as representatives of the several underwriters named in Schedule A to the Underwriting Agreement. The Underwriting Agreement was separately filed with the SEC on September 25, 2019 as Exhibit 1.2 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K.
The Notes will mature on October 1, 2029. Interest on the Notes will be paid semi-annually in arrears on April 1 and October 1 of each year, beginning on April 1, 2020.
Prior to July 1, 2029 (three months prior to their maturity) (the "Par Call Date"), the Company may redeem the Notes, in whole at any time or in part from time to time, at a redemption price equal to the greater of (1) 100% of the principal amount of the Notes to be redeemed and (2) the sum of the present values of the remaining scheduled payments of principal and interest in respect of the Notes being redeemed (not including any portion of the payments of interest accrued but unpaid as of the date of redemption and assuming that such Notes to be redeemed matured on the Par Call Date), discounted to the date of redemption on a semi-annual basis (assuming a 360-day year of twelve 30-day months), at the Treasury Rate (as defined in the Indenture) plus 15 basis points, plus accrued and unpaid interest on the Notes being redeemed, if any, to, but excluding, the date of redemption.
In addition, on and after the Par Call Date, the Company may redeem some or all of the Notes at a redemption price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the notes to be redeemed, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to, but excluding the date of redemption.
Upon the occurrence of a change of control (as defined in the Indenture) of the Company and a contemporaneous downgrade of the Notes below an investment grade rating by at least two of Moody’s Investors Service, Inc., S&P Global Ratings, a division of S&P Global, Inc., and Fitch Ratings, Limited, the Company will, in certain circumstances, be required to make an offer to purchase the Notes at a price equal to 101% of the principal amount of the Notes, plus any accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the date of repurchase.
The Notes are general unsecured obligations of the Company. The Notes rank equally in right of payment with existing and any future unsecured and unsubordinated indebtedness of the Company and rank senior in right of payment to any existing and future indebtedness of the Company that is subordinated to the Notes. The Notes are also effectively subordinated to any existing and future secured indebtedness of the Company to the extent of the assets securing such indebtedness, and are structurally subordinated to all existing and any future indebtedness and any other liabilities of its subsidiaries.
The Indenture contains limited affirmative and negative covenants of the Company. The negative covenants restrict the ability of the Company and its subsidiaries to incur debt secured by liens on Principal Properties (as defined in the Indenture) or on shares of stock of the Company’s Principal Subsidiaries (as defined in the Indenture) and engage in sale and lease-back transactions with respect to any Principal Property. The Indenture also limits the ability of the Company to merge or consolidate or sell all or substantially all of its assets.
Upon the occurrence of an event of default under the Indenture, which includes payment defaults, defaults in the performance of affirmative and negative covenants, bankruptcy and insolvency related defaults and failure to pay certain indebtedness, the obligations of the Company under the Notes may be accelerated, in which case the entire principal amount of the Notes would be immediately due and payable.
The Company received net proceeds of approximately €4.33 billion from the Euro Offering and expects that the net proceeds from the USD Offering will be approximately $890.68 million, each after deducting the underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses. The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the offerings (together with cash on hand) (i) to repay commercial paper issued to fund the redemption on September 27, 2019 of $300 million aggregate principal amount of 4.70% Senior Notes due 2020 and $800 million aggregate principal amount of 3.15% Senior Notes due 2023 and (ii) to fund the redemption of approximately $4.5 billion aggregate principal amount of outstanding senior notes issued by the Company or its subsidiaries, including all of the outstanding (a) 1.500% Senior Notes due 2020, 4.500% Senior Notes due 2021, 3.600% Senior Notes due 2021 and 3.300% Senior Notes due 2022, each issued by the Company and of which notice was provided to holders on September 30, 2019 and (b) 6.00% Senior Notes due 2020 and 5.00% Senior Notes due 2021 issued by its subsidiary Life Technologies Corporation, of which notice was provided to holders on September 25, 2019.
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, U.S. counsel to the Company, has issued an opinion to the Company, dated October 8, 2019, regarding the Notes. A copy of this opinion is filed as Exhibit 5.1 hereto.
The foregoing description of certain of the terms of the Indenture does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text of each of the Base Indenture and the Supplemental Indenture, which are filed with this report as Exhibits 4.1 and 4.2 hereto, respectively. Each of the foregoing documents is incorporated herein by reference.