Debt sources of financing
Swedish Match applies a centralized approach to the Group’s financing, whereby as much external borrowing as possible is conducted centrally.
Subsidiary borrowing can, however, take place in countries where regulations and taxes make central financing impossible or uneconomical. Swedish Match tries to limit its refinancing risk by having a good distribution and length on its gross borrowing, and not being dependent on individual sources of financing.
Swedish Match has a syndicated bank credit facility of guaranteed 1,500 MSEK, which matures in December 2021. This was unutilized at year-end and contained no financial covenants. It is defined as a reserve facility. At year-end 2017, available cash funds and committed credit facilities amounted to 5,498 MSEK. Of this amount, confirmed credit lines amounted to 1,500 MSEK and cash and cash equivalents making up the remaining 3,998 MSEK. All cash and cash equivalents are available for use, none of this is pledged or similar.
At December 31, 2017, the average interest maturity period for Group loans was 4.7 years (4.2 years), taking into account cross currency interest rate swaps. The interest maturity structure on December 31, 2017 was as follows:
| Year | Fixed loans, MSEK | Variable loans, MSEK | Total, MSEK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 901 | 352 | 1,253 |
| 2019 | 984 | 200 | 1,184 |
| 2020 | 799 | – | 799 |
| 2021 | 498 | – | 498 |
| 2022 | 1,394 | – | 1,394 |
| 2023– | 6,152 | 250 | 6,402 |
| Total | 10,728 | 801 | 11,529 |
Most of Swedish Match’s financing consists of a global medium-term note program (MTN) with a limit amount of 1,500 MEUR. The program is an uncommitted borrowing program and the availability could be limited by the Group’s creditworthiness and prevailing market conditions. In case of market stress, if this program cannot be efficiently used, the syndicated bank credit facility of 1,500 MSEK will be utilized if necessary. At December 31, 2017, a total of 11,553 MSEK of the global medium-term note program was outstanding. The average maturity of the Group’s bond borrowing at December 31, 2017 was 4,9 years.
Under the global MTN program, Swedish Match has issued bonds in SEK, EUR, USD and CHF. Borrowing in EUR, USD and CHF is hedged into SEK by cross currency interest rate swaps. The average interest cost for outstanding bonds (including derivative instruments) on December 31, 2017 was 2.6 percent (3.4).
Read more about debt programs.
