Corporate Credit Ratings

Standard & Poor's
Long term BBB+
Outlook Stable
Lead analyst Ihsane Mesrar
Date rating / outlook last changed January 2019

Debt Capital Markets

The Lonza Group sources most of its debt financing directly from the debt capital markets. Please find below details of our debt capital market facility.

Program Currency Program size Guarantor Issuers
EMTN Program EUR 8 billion Lonza Group Ltd Lonza Finance International NV (Belgium)

Base prospectus - April 2023 (pdf)

Base prospectus - April 2024 (pdf)

Base Prospectus – April 2025 (pdf)

View the Debt Issuance Program documents 

Debt Overview

This section offers some important information for debt investors. The ability to flexibly use different sources of funds plays a key role in the financing of the Lonza Group. Lonza has therefore established a number of debt instruments.

Significant Debt Instruments:

CHF instruments Nominal Value
Straight bond (2020-2026) 150
Straight bond (2023-2028) 185
Straight bond (2023-2029)
Issued in February 2023 (300m)
Increased in May 2023 (150m)
450
Straight bond (2023-2031) 215
   
EUR instruments Nominal Value
Eurobond (2020-2027) 500
Eurobond (2024-2030) 600
Eurobond (2023-2033) 500
Eurobond (2024-2034) 600
Eurobond (2024-2036) 1000
   
USD instruments Nominal Value
Term Loan (2019-2025/2026) 700
Others 130

Debt Repayments

In 2024, Lonza repaid its scheduled debt maturities totaling CHF 153 million equivalent (thereof one Swiss bond with a nominal value of CHF 110 million and 43 million related to the German Private Placement).

In 2023, Lonza repaid its scheduled debt maturities totaling CHF 655 million equivalent (thereof CHF 180 million related to the German Private Placement and two Swiss bonds with a nominal value of CHF 300 million and CHF 175 million).

Eurobond

In April 2020 Lonza issued its inaugural Eurobond with a coupon of 1.625% in the European capital market. The net proceeds were used to refinance existing debt and general corporate purposes. The bond with a volume of EUR 500 million has a maturity of 7 years. The notes have been offered under a standalone Prospectus and have been listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

Trust Deed 2020
Agency Agreement 2020
Lonza Finance International NV bylaws
Lonza Group AG bylaws
Corporate news and releases

In May 2023 Lonza issued a EUR 500 million straight bond with a maturity of 10 years and a coupon of 3.875%. This bond marked Lonza’s first drawdown under its newly established EMTN program.

In April 2024 Lonza issued a EUR 1.0 billion straight bond with a maturity of 12 years and a coupon of 3.875%. Purpose of the bond issuance was to refinance existing debt and general corporate purposes. In August 2024, Lonza issued a 1.2 billion dual tranche straight bond with maturities of six and ten years and coupons of 3.25% and 3.5%, respectively. The proceeds of the bonds have been used for general corporate purposes, including the financing of acquisitions and refinancing of existing debt. 

CHF - Bonds

In February 2023, Lonza issued a CHF 300 million note with a maturity of 6.5 years (annual coupon of 2.100%), followed by an increase of the February note in May 2023 by CHF 150 million with a maturity of 6.5 years (annual coupon of 2.100%). In November 2023, two bonds totaling CHF 400 million were issued with maturities of 4.5 and 7.5 years (annual coupons of 2.250% and 2.600%, respectively).

The net proceeds of the CHF bonds above were used for general corporate purposes and refinancing.

Syndicated Loan Facilities

In 2019, Lonza signed a Syndicated Loan Facility with a consortium of banks containing Term Loans and a Revolving Credit Facility.

Term Loans

The Term Loan tranches of USD 500 million and USD 200 million carrying floating interest rates are repayable in 2025 and 2026 respectively.

Revolving Credit Facility (RCF)

The RCF provides Lonza with additional financial headroom of CHF 1 billion at floating interest rates. The 2019 facility was planned to expire in September 2026. Lonza successfully refinanced the facility in December 2024 with a new tenor of 5 years and two extension options. The maturity date is December 2029. The facility was not used during 2024 nor in 2023.

German Private Placement (Schuldscheindarlehen)

Following the repayment of the scheduled debt maturities of EUR 187.5 million (CHF 180 million) in August 2023, Lonza maintained one fixed rate note of the dual-currency Schuldschein issued in August 2017. The remaining note was repaid in 2024 (USD 50 million).

Others

Other current and non-current debt comprise industrial revenue bonds of USD 130 million (2023: USD 130 million) issued by governmental institutions in the United States.

 
     2024     2023
  Average interest rates %  % million CHF     Average interest rates %  %  million CHF
CHF 1.90 21 994
1.27 41 1,144
EUR 2.61 63 2,969
2.34 33 920
USD 5.02 16 747
5.20 26 737
Total
100 4,710


100 2,801