By MAIMBOLWA MULIKELELA-

FIRST Quantum Minerals Limited (FQM) has launched an offering of US$1,600 million senior notes to refinance the company’s existing debt securities due in 2019 and 2020.
Senior notes are debt securities or bonds that take precedence over other unsecured notes in the event of bankruptcy.
The senior notes offered will be due in 2023 and 2025.
This is contained in a statement posted on the Lusaka Securities Exchange (LuSE) and made available to Times of Zambia in Lusaka.
According to the statement, the notes will be senior obligations of the company and will be guaranteed by certain of the company’s subsidiaries.
“Interest will be payable semi-annually. The interest rate, offering price and principal amount of each series of the notes along with certain other terms will be determined at the time of pricing of the offering, subject to market conditions,” the statement stated.
It indicated that the company intends to use the proceeds of the offering to refinance the company’s existing senior notes due 2019 and 2020 by way of a tender offer and redemption, repay certain other senior debt and pay fees associated with the offering.
The statement indicated that the company prepared an offering memorandum which will be made available to selected prospective purchasers of the notes.
“This announcement is not an offer of securities for sale in the United States or any other jurisdiction.
Securities may not be offered or sold in the United States unless they are registered or are exempt from registration.
“The company does not intend to register any portion of this offering in the United States or to conduct a public offering in the United States or any other jurisdiction,” the statement stated.