United Stationers Enters $150M Debt Private Placement Agreement

United Stationers Inc.

today announced that it has entered into an agreement to issue $150 million of senior secured notes to a group of investors.  The sale of the notes is scheduled to close on January 15, 2014.  The annual interest rate on the notes will be 3.75 percent and the notes will mature on January 15, 2021.  The company intends to use the proceeds to retire $135 million of existing senior secured notes due October 2014, as well as to reduce bank borrowings. At the time United Stationers priced the notes, it terminated a swap transaction it had entered into on June 11, 2013.  Taking into account the gain realized on the termination of the swap, the effective per annum interest rate on the notes will be 3.66 percent.  "We are pleased to obtain long-term committed financing at such attractive rates.  These notes represent an important diversification of our funding sources and allow us to convert a portion of our debt from floating to fixed, which reduces our exposure to rising interest rates," said Todd A. Shelton, senior vice president and chief financial officer.  Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and