Graybar Closes Half-Billion-Dollar Financing Deal

ST. LOUIS – Graybar, a leading distributor of electrical, communications and data networking products and provider of related supply chain management and logistics services, announced that on September 28, 2011 it entered into a $500 million, five year unsecured revolving line of credit.  Bank of America Merrill Lynch was the lead institution in the transaction, with PNC, U.S. Bank, SunTrust Bank and J.P. Morgan acting as joint lead arrangers.  Commerce Bank, Regions Bank, Wells Fargo, Fifth Third Bank, Comerica and UMB also participated in the transaction.  

The deal was marketed and priced without requiring Graybar to encumber any of its assets.  Graybar’s future investments in facilities, as well as its growth in working capital assets, such as inventory and accounts receivables, were part of the consideration for the deal.  It is the largest financing agreement in Graybar’s history and replaces the company’s prior $200 million arrangement.

Graybar will retire debt currently outstanding in the U.S. as well as that of the company’s subsidiary in Canada. Graybar has paid off much of its long term debt over the past five years, with balances falling from $236 million at the end of 2006 to $86 million as of the end of the second quarter of 2011.

“This financing agreement gives us significant flexibility moving forward,” said Graybar’s Chairman, President and CEO Bob Reynolds. “Our business is gaining momentum, with growth exceeding 20 percent for the first half of 2011.  With this financing, we have the capacity to pursue additional growth opportunities and sustain our long-term success.”