Clearwater International advises Carl Zeiss on €500m debt refinancing

Clearwater International acted as sole financial adviser to the Carl Zeiss Group on the structuring of an unsecured mid-term financing with a volume of €500m.

On behalf of the Carl Zeiss Group, Clearwater International has set up a competitive refinancing process with several international financing institutions in order to secure the mid-term liquidity headroom for the client and to optimize the financing conditions. In course of this process a group of six banks, with the most competitive offers selected, were entered into final credit negotiations. Finally, Carl Zeiss Group agreed with these banks on a financing agreement with a tenor of up to seven years and very favourable conditions regarding interest rate and covenant requirements.

The Carl Zeiss Group is a leading international group of companies operating in the optical and opto-electronic industries. Headquartered in Oberkochen, Germany, the Carl Zeiss Group is directly represented in more than 30 countries and operates production facilities in Europe, America and Asia. With approximately 25,000 employees, the Carl Zeiss Group generates sales of approximately €4.2bn (2012/13).