[April 24, 2018]

Bacardi Limited Announces Notes Offering

Bacardi Limited ("Bacardi") announced today that it has launched an offering of notes (the "Notes"). The Notes will be issued to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, inside the United States, and outside the United States to certain non-U.S. persons pursuant to Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Offering"). The Notes will be fully and unconditionally guaranteed by Bacardi's indirect subsidiaries Bacardi-Martini B.V., Bacardi Corporation and Bacardi U.S.A., Inc.

Net proceeds of the Offering will be used primarily to fund the acquisition of the approximately 70% of shares of Patrón Spirits International AG that Bacardi does not already own and the redemption of all of Bacardi's $250 million principal amount of 8.20% notes issued on March 31, 2009, and the remainder will be for general corporate purposes. There is no assurance that the offering will be completed.

For further information, please contact [email protected].

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE OR FORM PART OF ANY OFFER OR INVITATION TO SELL OR ISSUE, OR ANY SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO PURCHASE OR SUBSCRIBE FOR, ANY SECURITIES OF BACARDI LIMITED.

NOT FOR RELEASE, DISTRIBUTION OR PUBLICATION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO AUSTRALIA, JAPAN, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH IT WOULD BE UNLAWFUL TO DO SO. PLEASE SEE THE IMPORTANT NOTICES AT THE END OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.

Cautionary Statement

This press release is for information purposes only and does not constitute a prospectus or any offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security in the United States or in any other jurisdiction. The Notes have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") or applicable state or foreign securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration under federal or applicable state securities laws or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. The Notes are being offered in the United States to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act and to non-U.S. persons outside the United States pursuant to Regulation S under the Securities Act.

Bacardi received a direction from the Minister of Economic Development of Bermuda that Part III and Section 35 of the Companies Act 1981 of Bermuda shall not apply to the offer of the Notes. The Bermuda Monetary Authority, the Bermuda Registrar of Companies and any other relevant Bermuda authority or government body accept no responsibility for the financial soundness of any proposal or for the correctness of any of the statements made or opinions expressed herein.

In the United Kingdom, this announcement is being distributed only to, and is directed only at, and any offer subsequently made may only be directed at persons who are ''qualified investors'' (as defined in the Prospectus Directive) (i) who have professional experience in matters relating to investments falling within Article 19 (5) of the Financial Serices and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the ''Order'') and/or (ii) who are high net worth companies (or persons to whom it may otherwise be lawfully communicated) falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as ''relevant persons''). This document must not be acted on or relied on in the United Kingdom by persons who are not relevant persons. In the United Kingdom, any investment or investment activity to which this document relates is only available to, and will be engaged in with, relevant persons.

The Notes are not intended to be offered, sold or otherwise made available to and should not be offered, sold or otherwise made available to any retail investor in the European Economic Area (''EEA''). For these purposes, a retail investor means a person who is one (or more) of: (i) a retail client as defined in point (11) of Article 4(1) of Directive 2014/65/EU (as amended, ''MiFID II''); or (ii) a customer within the meaning of Directive 2002/92/EC (as amended, the ''Insurance Mediation Directive''), where that customer would not qualify as a professional client as defined in point (10) of Article 4(1) of MiFID II; or (iii) not a qualified investor as defined in Directive 2003/71/EC (as amended, the ''Prospectus Directive''). Consequently no key information document required by Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 (as amended, the ''PRIIPs Regulation'') for offering or selling the Notes or otherwise making them available to retail investors in the EEA has been prepared and therefore offering or selling the Notes or otherwise making them available to any retail investor in the EEA may be unlawful under the PRIIPs Regulation. This announcement has been prepared on the basis that any offer of Notes in any Member State of the EEA will be made pursuant to an exemption under the Prospectus Directive from the requirement to publish a prospectus for offers of Notes. This announcement is not a prospectus for the purposes of the Prospectus Directive.

The offering of the Notes has not been cleared by Commissione Nazionale per le Societ`a e la Borsa (''CONSOB'') pursuant to Italian securities legislation. Accordingly, no Notes may be offered, sold or delivered, directly or indirectly, nor may copies of the offering memorandum or of any other document relating to the Notes be distributed in the Republic of Italy, except: (i) to qualified investors (investitori qualificati), as defined under Article 100 of the Legislative Decree No. 58 of 24 February 1998, as amended (the ''Italian Financial Act''), as implemented by Article 26, paragraph 1(d) of CONSOB Regulation No. 16190 of 29 October 2007, as amended (''CONSOB Regulation No. 16190''), pursuant to Article 34-ter, first paragraph, letter b), of CONSOB Regulation No. 11971 of 14 May 1999, as amended (''CONSOB Regulation No. 11971''); or (ii) in other circumstances which are exempted from the rules on public offerings pursuant to Article 100 of the Italian Financial Act and its implementing CONSOB Regulations including Regulation no. 11971.

Any such offer, sale or delivery of the Notes or distribution of copies of the offering memorandum or any other document relating to the Notes in the Republic of Italy must be in compliance with the selling restriction under (i) and (ii) above and: (a) made by investment firms, banks or financial intermediaries permitted to conduct such activities in the Republic of Italy in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Italian Financial Act, Regulation No. 16190, Legislative Decree No. 385 of 1 September 1993 as amended (the ''Banking Act'') and any other applicable laws or regulation; (b) in compliance with Article 129 of the Banking Act and the implementing guidelines of the Bank of Italy, as amended, pursuant to which the Bank of Italy may request information on the offering or issue of securities in Italy or by Italian persons outside of Italy; and (c) in compliance with any other applicable laws and regulations or requirement imposed by CONSOB or the Bank of Italy or any other Italian authority.

The Notes may be sold only to purchasers purchasing, or deemed to be purchasing, as principal that are accredited investors, as defined in National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions or subsection 73.3(1) of the Securities Act (Ontario), and are permitted clients, as defined in National Instrument 31-103 Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant Obligations. Any resale of the Notes must be made in accordance with an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the prospectus requirements of applicable securities laws.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may include "forward looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward looking statements can be identified by the use of forward looking terminology, including the terms such as the words "believe", "expect'', "plan", "intend", "seek", "anticipate", "estimate", "predict", "potential", "assume", "continue", "may", "will", "should", "could", "shall", "risk" or the negative of these terms or similar expressions that are predictions of or indicate future events and future trends. These forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts and include statements regarding Bacardi Limited's intentions, beliefs or current expectations. By their nature, forward looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. Readers are cautioned that forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual facts may differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Given these risks and uncertainties, you should not rely on forward looking statements as a prediction of actual results.

©2018 BACARDI

BACARDI, THE BAT DEVICE & OTHER MARKS RELATED TO PRODUCTS IN THIS NEWS RELEASE ARE TRADEMARKS OF BACARDI & COMPANY LIMITED OR OF OTHER SUBSIDIARIES OF BACARDI LIMITED

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180424006143/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]