HEICO Corporation (NYSE: HEI.A and HEI) announced today that it entered into a new $1.3 billion unsecured revolving credit facility (the “Facility”) with a banking syndicate led by SunTrust Bank, Bank of America and Wells Fargo Bank. Other banks participating are BB&T Bank, Capital One, Fifth Third Bank, J.P. Morgan, PNC Bank, TD Bank, and U.S. Bank as co-documentation agents, as well as Citibank, BankUnited, Synovus Bank and IberiaBank.
The Facility, which is a record size for HEICO, may be increased to $1.65 billion under certain circumstances and replaces the Company’s $1.0 billion revolving credit facility, which was itself expanded from $800 million in April 2017. The new Facility’s capacity increased 30% over the $1.0 billion pre-existing revolving credit facility and 62.5% over the previous $800 million limit. Borrowings under the Facility bear interest at LIBOR plus the applicable margin ranging from 100 basis points to 200 basis points, based on certain leverage measurements. The Facility matures in November 2022 and can be extended for two additional one-year periods. In addition, HEICO’s Facility provides increased flexibility on non-financial provisions.
HEICO’s Facility, which is available for general corporate purposes, will principally be used to fund acquisitions. Since 1996, HEICO has completed 65 acquisitions and remains committed to a disciplined and active capital allocation strategy. In the last twelve months, HEICO completed four acquisitions, including AeroAntenna Technology, Inc., its largest ever.
Laurans A. Mendelson, HEICO's Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, along with Co-Presidents, Eric A. Mendelson and Victor H. Mendelson remarked, “HEICO’s excellent performance and credit profile enabled us to significantly expand our credit facility twice in the past six months. This increased financial firepower, along with the Facility’s longer duration, should allow us to continue making acquisitions and execute our strategic goals for many years.”
Carlos L. Macau Jr., HEICO’s Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, added, “We are proud to have earned such strong support and confidence from our banks. We look forward to maintaining our great relationships and to continuing to work together in the future.”
The Company has two classes of common stock traded on the NYSE. Both classes, the Class A Common Stock (HEI.A) and the Common Stock (HEI), are virtually identical in all economic respects. The only difference between the share classes is the voting rights. The Class A Common Stock (HEI.A) receives 1/10 vote per share and the Common Stock (HEI) receives one vote per share. The stock symbols for HEICO's two classes of common stock on most web sites are HEI.A and HEI. However, some web sites change HEICO's Class A Common Stock symbol (HEI.A) to HEI/A, HEIa or HEI-A.