Denmark: Carlsberg places EUR and GBP notes maturing in 2014 and 2016 respectively

Carlsberg Breweries A/S announced on May, 19 it has successfully placed 5-year EUR Notes for a principal amount of EUR 1 billion with a coupon of 6% and 7½-year Sterling Notes for a principal amount of GBP 300 million with a coupon of 7.25%.

The notes have been issued under the company’s European Medium Term Note Programme (EMTN) and will be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

The proceeds of the offering will be used to refinance the parts of the Scottish & Newcastle acquisition financing maturing in 2010. Following this, Carlsberg does not have any material refinancing needs for 2009-2010.

The Notes were placed by BNP Paribas, Nordea, Royal Bank of Scotland and Société Générale.

Carlsberg reconfirms the 2009 full-year outlook as stated 6 May 2009 in the Interim Results as at 31 March 2009.

All bonds issued by the Carlsberg Group are subject to the authority of the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority.

This is the first issue of notes implemented by Carlsberg since 2004, Bloomberg commented on May, 19.

Fitch Ratings assigned Copenhagen-based Carlsberg’s prospective bond issue a BBB- rating, the lowest investment- grade ranking.

The spread on the new bonds in euros compares with an average yield of 176 basis points over benchmark swap rates that investors demand to hold debt sold by companies in the Merrill Lynch & Co.’s Euro Consumer Non-Cyclicals index that includes brewers and distillers.

The Merrill benchmark tracks 94 securities with an average maturity of four years issued by firms including Anheuser Busch InBev NV, Diageo Plc and Fortune Brands Inc. The spread has narrowed from 226 basis points at the start of the year.

Carlsberg issued 2.5 billion Danish kroner ($460 million) of bonds in 2004 that mature next month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.