HARRISBURG, Pa., Nov. 5, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Worldwide industrial services company Harsco Corporation (NYSE:HSC) announced today it has successfully secured a new $220 million 364-day credit facility, which was co-arranged by Citibank and the Royal Bank of Scotland. The new facility replaces an existing $450 million facility that expires this month. The Company also has the option to increase the size of the new facility by an additional $80 million at a future date with the consent of the lenders. This new credit facility follows the Company's highly successful 5.75 percent, 10-year, $450 million long-term bond issue completed in May 2008.
With this latest facility, the Company now has short-term borrowing capacity in excess of $700 million. The primary purpose of the new facility will be to serve as back-up to the Company's existing U.S. and Belgian commercial paper programs, which currently have approximately $120 million outstanding.
Harsco Chairman and CEO Salvatore D. Fazzolari said, "As I noted in last week's announcement of our record third quarter 2008 results, Harsco is a financially sound company with a well-balanced, diversified global business portfolio and an experienced management team. Our liquidity is strong, our debt is over 85 percent fixed, and our debt to capital ratio is near a multi-year low at 39.6 percent. We expect to continue to generate considerable free cash flows to consider stock buybacks, debt paydown, acquisitions and other initiatives to support our earnings performance in 2009, without the need to add material leverage to our balance sheet."
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements based on management's current expectations, estimates and projections. All statements that address expectations or projections about the future, including statements about the company's strategy for growth, product development, market position, expected expenditures and financial results are forward-looking statements. Some of the forward-looking statements may be identified by words like "may," "could," "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "intends," "projects," "indicates," and similar expressions. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors, including those discussed more fully elsewhere in this release and in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Harsco, particularly its latest annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly report on Form 10-Q, as well as others, could cause results to differ materially from those stated. These factors include, but are not limited to, changes in the worldwide business environment in which the Company operates, including as a result of the current global financial and credit crisis; changes in the performance of the equity and debt markets; changes in governmental laws and regulations; market and competitive changes, including pricing pressures, market demand and acceptance for new products, services, and technologies; unforeseen business disruptions in one or more of the many countries in which the Company operates; the seasonal nature of the Company's business; the financial condition of the Company's customers; the successful integration of the Company's strategic acquisitions; and the amount and timing of repurchases of the Company's common stock, if any. The Company undertakes no duty to update forward-looking statements.
About Harsco
Harsco Corporation is one of the world's leading diversified industrial services companies, serving key industries that play a fundamental role in worldwide economic growth and development. Harsco's common stock is a component of the S&P MidCap 400 Index and the Russell 1000 Index. Additional information can be found at www.harsco.com.
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