CLEVELAND--(Business Wire)--
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc (NYSE: CLF) announced that, effective today,
it has closed on two tranches of senior notes totaling $325 million.
The privately placed offering consisted of $270 million 6.31%
Five-Year Senior Notes due June 15, 2013, and $55 million 6.59%
Seven-Year Senior Notes due June 15, 2015. Interest will be paid on
the notes for both tranches on December 15, and June 15, until their
respective maturities. Interest and principal amounts are guaranteed
on a senior basis by certain domestic subsidiaries of the Company. The
Company will use the proceeds to repay senior unsecured indebtedness
and for general corporate purposes, which may include acquisitions.
Laurie Brlas, Cliffs' executive vice president and chief financial
officer, said, "The placements enhance Cliffs' financial flexibility
and will allow us to quickly act on opportunities to grow our business
as they arise."
The notes and guarantees are not required to be registered under
the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and have been placed with
qualified institutional investors.
The notes were offered to qualified institutional buyers. The
senior notes offered and related guarantees have not been registered
under the Securities Act and may not be offered or sold in the United
States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the
registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an
offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy such senior
notes.
To be added to Cleveland-Cliffs' e-mail distribution list, please
click on the link below:
http://www.cpg-llc.com/clearsite/clf/emailoptin.html
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, is an
international mining company, the largest producer of iron ore pellets
in North America and a major supplier of metallurgical coal to the
global steelmaking industry. The Company operates six iron ore mines
in Michigan, Minnesota and Eastern Canada, and three coking coal mines
in West Virginia and Alabama. Cliffs also owns 80 percent of Portman
Limited, a large iron ore mining company in Australia, serving the
Asian iron ore markets with direct-shipping fines and lump ore. In
addition, the Company has a 30 percent interest in the Amapa Project,
a Brazilian iron ore project, and a 45 percent economic interest in
the Sonoma Project, an Australian coking and thermal coal project.
This news release contains predictive statements that are intended
to be made as "forward-looking" within the safe harbor protections of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although the
Company believes that its forward-looking statements are based on
reasonable assumptions, such statements are subject to risk and
uncertainties.
Actual results may differ materially from such statements for a
variety of reasons, including: changes in the sales mix; the impact of
other price-adjustment factors on the Company's North American sales
contracts; changes in demand for iron ore pellets by North American
integrated steel producers, or changes in Asian iron ore demand due to
changes in steel utilization rates, operational factors, electric
furnace production or imports into the United States and Canada of
semi-finished steel or pig iron; availability of capital equipment and
component parts; availability of float capacity on the Great Lakes;
changes in the financial condition of the Company's partners and/or
customers; market forces that negatively impact the domestic and
international metallurgical coal markets; changes in global demand for
metallurgical coal by integrated steel producers due to changes in
steel utilization rates; rejection of major contracts and/or venture
agreements by customers and/or participants under provisions of the
U.S. Bankruptcy Code or similar statutes in other countries; the
impact of consolidation in the steel industry; events or circumstances
that could impair or adversely impact the viability of a mine and the
carrying value of associated assets; inability to achieve expected
production levels; failure to receive or maintain required
environmental permits; problems with productivity, labor disputes,
weather conditions, fluctuations in ore grade, tons mined, changes in
cost factors including energy costs, transportation and employee
benefit costs; and the effect of these various risks on the Company's
future cash flows, debt levels, liquidity and financial position.
Reference is also made to the detailed explanation of the many
factors and risks that may cause such predictive statements to turn
out differently, set forth in the Company's Annual Report and Reports
on Form 10-K and previous news releases filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, which are publicly available on Cleveland-Cliffs'
website. The information contained in this document speaks as of the
date of this news release and may be superseded by subsequent events.
News releases and other information on the Company are available
on the Internet at: http://www.cleveland-cliffs.com.
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc
Steve Baisden, 216-694-5280
Director, Investor Relations and
Corporate Communications
srbaisden@cleveland-cliffs.com
Copyright Business Wire 2008
