MONTREAL, May 16, 2022
/CNW Telbec/ - SNC-Lavalin (TSX: SNC), a fully integrated
professional services and project management company with offices
around the world, today announces the closing of an agreement with
its lenders to replace and extend its existing syndicated credit
facilities. The replacement will result in reduced overall
borrowing costs, with potential further reductions contingent upon
SNC-Lavalin's achievement of certain environmental, social and
governance (ESG) targets. 100% of the savings realized because of
the Company's ESG results will be directed towards initiatives that
further advance the Company's ESG strategy.
Pursuant to the agreement and upon closing, the revolving credit
facility (the "Revolving Credit Facility"), is reduced from
$2.6 billion to $2.0 billion and available for cash draws and
issuances of letters of credit. The Revolving Credit Facility will
be further reduced to $1.8 billion in
April 2023. The term loan (the "Term
Loan", and together with the Revolving Credit Facility, the "Credit
Facilities") is unchanged at $500
million. The Credit Facilities have a maturity date of
May 2025.
The Credit Facilities are being structured to incorporate a
sustainability-linked loan framework, to align with SNC-Lavalin's
leading ESG initiatives and resulting in borrowing savings upon
achievement of certain sustainability performance targets. The
relevant targets are aligned with the enhanced targets from our
latest Sustainability Report: Our Vision for Engineering a
Sustainable Society. These targets will be based on the achievement
of:
- Reducing greenhouse gases emissions (including Scope 1, 2 and
3) by 60% by 2025, using 2019 as a baseline year
- Increasing diversity within our workforce, focusing on
achieving 25% of women representation in managerial and senior
professional roles by 2025
"Bank lenders and capital markets are increasingly holding
companies accountable on how effectively they integrate and deliver
on their ESG objectives," commented Ian L.
Edwards, President and Chief Executive Officer, SNC-Lavalin.
"The renewed Credit Facilities allow us to realign our lending
requirements to better meet the needs of our business following the
introduction of our Pivoting to Growth Strategy and new
operating structure, while simultaneously reducing our borrowing
costs. By linking sustainability outcomes with our corporate
financing strategy, we continue to demonstrate to our clients and
various stakeholders that we are committed and accountable to the
goals we've set and have fully operationalized our greater
purpose—to engineer a better future for our planet and its
people."
"Today, we've demonstrated what we already knew to be true; that
an ambitious, transparent, and accountable ESG strategy is good for
the business too," said Hentie Dirker, Chief ESG and Integrity
Officer, SNC-Lavalin. "We've made a number of significant ESG
commitments in the past few years, working collaboratively with
internal and external stakeholders to identify the areas we can
have maximum impact. Our ESG strategy shapes the way we do business
outside our Company too; through initiatives like Engineering Net
Zero, our Counterparty Code of Conduct for our suppliers, our
Integrity program, and our standing as an Indigenous supplier
procurement champion in Canada.
Thanks to ambitious goals and laser-focused execution, we're well
on our way to positioning SNC-Lavalin as a globally recognized
leader in ESG."
SNC-Lavalin's broader ESG activities include the linkage of
executive compensation to ESG-related hurdles, achieving 36%
representation of women on the Board of Directors, the creation of
dedicated global leadership roles for ESG as well as Equality,
Diversity and Inclusion, and a Routemap to reach carbon net zero by
2030. SNC-Lavalin's internal carbon reduction targets are in
addition to its Engineering Net Zero blueprint, to help clients
reduce their carbon emissions, manage climate risk, and build
climate resilience within their portfolios.
Bank of Montreal, HSBC Bank
Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, BNP
Paribas, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, National Bank
Financial Markets, The Bank of Nova
Scotia and TD Securities acted as Joint Bookrunners and
Co-Lead Arrangers on the Revolving Credit Facility. National Bank
Financial Markets, Bank of Montreal and The Bank of Nova Scotia acted as Joint Bookrunners and
Co-Lead Arrangers on the Term Facility. Bank of Montreal acted as Administrative Agent on the
Credit Facilities and National Bank of Canada, HSBC Bank Canada and The
Toronto-Dominion Bank acted as Co-Sustainability Structuring
Agents.
About SNC-Lavalin
Founded in 1911, SNC-Lavalin is a fully integrated
professional services and project management company with offices
around the world dedicated to engineering a better future for our
planet and its people. We create sustainable solutions that connect
people, technology and data to design, deliver and operate the most
complex projects. We deploy global capabilities locally to our
clients and deliver unique end-to-end services across the whole
life cycle of an asset including consulting, advisory &
environmental services, intelligent networks & cybersecurity,
design & engineering, procurement, project & construction
management, operations & maintenance, decommissioning and
capital – and delivered to clients in key strategic sectors such as
Engineering Services, Nuclear, Operations & Maintenance and
Capital. News and information are available at
snclavalin.com or follow us on LinkedIn
and Twitter.
Forward-Looking
Statements
Reference in this press release to the "Company" or to
"SNC-Lavalin" means, as the context may require, SNC-Lavalin Group
Inc. or all or some of its subsidiaries or joint arrangements or
associates. Statements made in this press release that describe the
Company's or management's expectations or strategies may be
"forward-looking statements", which can be identified by the use of
the conditional or forward-looking terminology such as "expects",
"forecasts", "intends", "may", "objective", "plans", "projects",
"should", "will", "likely", or the negative thereof or other
variations thereon. Forward-looking statements also include any
other statements that do not refer to historical facts.
Forward-looking statements also include statements relating to the
future capital expenditures. All such forward-looking statements
are made pursuant to the "safe-harbour" provisions of applicable
Canadian securities laws. The Company cautions that, by their
nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties,
and that its actual actions and/or results could differ materially
from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements,
or could affect the extent to which a particular projection
materializes. Forward-looking statements are presented for the
purpose of assisting investors and others in understanding certain
key elements of the Company's current objectives, strategic
priorities, expectations and plans, and in obtaining a better
understanding of the Company's business and anticipated operating
environment. Readers are cautioned that such information may not be
appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking statements made in
this press release are based on a number of assumptions believed by
the Company to be reasonable as at the date hereof. The assumptions
are set out throughout the Company's 2021 Annual MD&A
(particularly in the sections entitled "Critical Accounting
Judgments and Key Sources of Estimation Uncertainty" and "How We
Analyze and Report our Results") filed with the securities
regulatory authorities in Canada,
available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com at and on the Company's
website at www.snclavalin.com under the "Investors" section. If
these assumptions are inaccurate, the Company's actual results
could differ materially from those expressed or implied in such
forward looking statements. In addition, important risk factors
could cause the Company's assumptions and estimates to be
inaccurate and actual results or events to differ materially from
those expressed in or implied by these forward-looking statements.
Those risks are identified in the Company's 2021 Annual MD&A
(particularly in the sections entitled "Risk and Un certainties")
and are not exhaustive. The forward-looking statements herein
reflect the Company's expectations as at the date of this press
release and are subject to change after this date. The Company does
not undertake to update publicly or to revise any such
forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable
legislation or regulation.
SOURCE SNC-Lavalin