NEW YORK, Feb. 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- BGC Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ: BGCP) ("BGC Partners" or "BGC" or "the Company,") a leading global brokerage company servicing the financial and real estate markets, today announced that it has entered into a committed unsecured credit agreement (the "agreement") with a group of lenders. The agreement provides for maximum revolving loans of $150 million, with the option to increase the aggregate loans to $200 million.
"We are very pleased to announce this new credit agreement, which further enhances the Company's operating flexibility with respect to our growth strategy," said Howard W. Lutnick, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BGC. "We already have a very strong balance sheet, with more than $1 billion of liquidity. In addition, we expect to receive over $760 million in additional Nasdaq stock over time, which is not yet reflected on our balance sheet.1 This agreement bolsters our already robust financial position, while giving us even more resources we can use to make continued and disciplined investments for the long-term benefit of the Company.
"The agreement, along with our liquidity position, and the expected receipt of 11.9 million Nasdaq shares, means that we have over $1.9 billion of dry powder available to us to drive substantial returns for our investors. We expect to use our considerable financial resources to profitably hire, make accretive acquisitions, pay dividends, repurchase shares and units of BGC, and/or repay debt, all while maintaining or improving our investment grade rating."
On February 25, 2016, BGC entered into a committed unsecured credit agreement with Bank of America, N.A., as administrative agent, and a syndicate of lenders that included Capital One, N.A.; Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited, New York Branch; U.S. Bank National Association; Associated Bank, National Association; BankUnited, N.A.; and Western Alliance Bank. Several of the Company's domestic non-regulated subsidiaries are parties to the agreement as guarantors. The maturity date of the facility is February 25, 2018.
Borrowings under this facility will bear interest at either LIBOR or a defined base rate plus an additional margin. This margin will range from 50 basis points to 250 basis points, depending on BGC's debt rating as determined by S&P and Fitch and whether the loan is a LIBOR loan or a base rate loan. Contemporaneously with the closing of this agreement, BGC terminated the $25 million unsecured credit agreement entered into on December 24, 2015 with Bank of America, N.A. As of February 25, 2016, there were no borrowings outstanding under either the $150 million facility or the terminated $25 million facility.
About BGC Partners, Inc.
BGC Partners is a leading global brokerage company servicing the financial and real estate markets. Through brands including BGC, GFI, and RP Martin, the Company's Financial Services segment brokers a broad range of products, including fixed income (rates and credit), foreign exchange, equities, energy, commodities, and futures. BGC provides a wide variety of services, including trade execution, broker-dealer services, clearing, processing, information, and other back-office services to a broad range of financial and non-financial institutions. Through brands including FENICS, BGC Trader, BGC Market Data, Capitalab, and Swaptioniser, BGC offers fully electronic brokerage, financial technology solutions, market data, analytics, and post-trade services related to numerous financial instruments and markets. Through Real Estate Services brands including Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, the Company provides a large assortment of commercial real estate services, including leasing and corporate advisory, investment sales, real estate finance, consulting, project management, property management, and facilities management.
BGC's customers include many of the world's largest banks, broker-dealers, investment banks, trading firms, hedge funds, governments, corporations, property owners, real estate developers, and investment firms. BGC's common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol (NASDAQ: BGCP). BGC also has an outstanding bond issuance of Senior Notes due June 15, 2042, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol (NYSE: BGCA). BGC Partners is led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Howard W. Lutnick. For more information, please visit http://www.bgcpartners.com.
BGC, BGC Trader, GFI, FENICS, FENICS.COM, RP Martin, Capitalab, Swaptioniser, Newmark, Grubb & Ellis, and Grubb are trademarks, registered trademarks and/or service marks of BGC Partners, Inc. and/or its affiliates. Knight Frank is a service mark of Knight Frank (Nominees) Limited.
Discussion of Forward-Looking Statements about BGC Partners
Statements in this document regarding BGC's businesses that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. Except as required by law, BGC undertakes no obligation to release any revisions to any forward-looking statements. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see BGC's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors set forth in its public filings, including the most recent Form 10-K and any updates to such risk factors contained in subsequent Forms 10-Q or Forms 8-K.
1 See the "Consolidated Balance Sheet" section of the Company's most recent financial results press release for the items that make up liquidity. On June 28, 2013, BGC sold its fully electronic trading platform for benchmark U.S. Treasury Notes and Bonds to Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ or "Nasdaq") for $750 million in cash and approximately 992 thousand shares of Nasdaq per year paid ratably over 15 years beginning in 2013. The value of these shares as discussed in this document is based on NDAQ's closing price on February 25, 2016.
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