Lancaster, Pa. —Armstrong World Industries recently announced the completion of a refinancing and a special dividend payment by WAVE, its 50% joint venture with Worthington Industries. Pursuant to the refinancing, WAVE executed a $225 million, three-year revolving credit agreement and a $50 million, ten-year private placement bond. Proceeds of the transaction were used to repay WAVE’s previous credit agreement, as well as to pay $50 million special dividends to each of WAVE’s parent companies, Armstrong and Worthington.
Armstrong CFO Tom Mangas commented that, “This is a good development for all parties involved. WAVE was able to refinance at a time of historically low interest rates and lock in its capital structure at a modest level of leverage, and the parent companies were able to realize the benefit of WAVE’s continued success in the form of the special dividend.”
Primarily as a result of the special WAVE dividend, Armstrong is revising its free cash flow guidance range for 2011 to an estimate of $150 million to $175 million, up from its previous guidance range estimate of $80 million to $120 million.