IMS Health (IMS) Prices Upsized Offering Of Senior Notes

IMS Health Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:IMS) announced the pricing of a senior notes offering worth $1.75 billion. The offering consists of $1.05 billion of U.S. dollar notes and €625 million of euro notes. The notes will be issued by its wholly owned subsidiary, IMS Health Inc.

The $1.05 billion U.S. dollar notes will bear interest at a rate of 5.0% and the €625 million euro notes will bear interest at a rate of 3.5%. Both would pay interest semi-annually in arrears on Apr 15 and Oct 15 of each year beginning on Apr 15, 2017. The U.S. dollar notes will mature on Oct 15, 2026 while the euro notes will mature on Oct 15, 2024.

The offering was upsized from a previously announced $1.5 billion equivalent aggregate principal amount. The net proceeds from the notes offering will primarily go toward the previously announced proposed merger between IMS Health and Quintiles Transnational Holdings Inc. (NYSE:Q) .

The merger, originally announced in May, would be named Quintiles IMS Holdings, Inc. Under the terms of the merger agreement, IMS Health shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 0.384 shares of the Quintiles common stock for each share of the IMS Health common stock. Upon completion of the merger, IMS Health shareholders will own approximately 51.4% of the shares of the combined company and Quintiles shareholders will own approximately 48.6%.

IMS Health is a leading global information and technology services company catering to clients in the healthcare industry.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Currently, IMS Health Holdings carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the broader medical sector include RadNet, Inc. (NASDAQ:RDNT) and US Physical Therapy Inc. (NYSE:USPH) . Notably, both the stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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