General policy

Norske Skog shall operate by these guidelines to have financial flexibility to fund short and long-term capital requirements and to maintain a capital structure that suits the group’s strategy.

• Norske Skog shall aim to have access to a diversified range of capital sources.
• Norske Skog shall aim to have a leverage ratio less than 2x. Leverage ratio is defined as net interest bearing debt to last twelve months EBITDA.
• Norske Skog shall aim to keep the maturity profile on it’s main financing arrangements spread out to reduce refinancing risk. Refinancing of major debt obligations shall be initiated well in advance of respective maturities.

Debt financing

Bank loans
Norske Skog AS has available a EUR 31 million revolving credit facility for working capital purposes. The facility matures in March 2026. In addition, subsidiaries have various smaller credit facilities outstanding.

Bond issue
Norske Skog has a EUR 150 million bond outstanding. The bond matures in March 2026.

Financial covenants
The financial covenants set out below apply for the EUR 31 million revolving credit facility and the EUR 150 million bond, on a group consolidated basis.

• Freely available and unrestricted cash and cash equivalents of minimum NOK 100 million.
• EBITDA* to net interest costs of minimum 2.0:1.
• Book equity to total assets of minimum 25%.
• Minimum LTM EBITDA* of NOK 300 million at 31 December 2021, and NOK 400 million thereafter.
• In addition, there are various company specific financial covenants applicable to the subsidiaries acting as borrowers under the respective credit facilities.

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