Dentsply International

Dentsply To Sell Benchmark Debt Offer To Fund Astra Tech Deal

NEW YORK -( Dow Jones )- Global dental-products supplier Dentsply International Inc.

(XRAY) is planning a two-part U.S. debt offering of five- and 10-year notes, according to a person familiar with the deal.The deal is benchmark in size, or at least $500 million. Pricing is expected later Tuesday via bookrunners Citigroup Inc., Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo Securities.Proceeds will be used to fund a portion of the company's $1.785 billion acquisition of Astra Tech, AstraZeneca PLC's (AZN, AZN.LN) dental-prosthetics and medical-devices unit. The deal was disclosed on June 22 and is expected to close by the end of the year.The debt offering comes with a mandatory redemption if the acquisition is terminated or isn't completed before March 12, 2012, which means the company is required to redeem all notes at 101% of their face value.The offering also has a change-of-control provision, which is designed to safeguard investors against event risk if the issuer is taken over in a leveraged buy...

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