NEW YORK, Dec. 27, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Atento S.A. (NYSE:ATTO), the leading provider of customer relationship management and business process outsourcing services (CRM BPO) in Latin America, and one of the top three providers worldwide, today announced that on December 26, 2016, it made a $30.0 million (R$100 million) voluntary principal prepayment on its Brazilian debentures. This prepayment reduces the outstanding principal amount of the Brazilian debentures to $155.0 million as of December 26, 2016.
Mauricio Montilha, Atento's Chief Financial Officer, commented, "As we highlighted during our November earnings call, we expected to prepay $30 million of our Brazilian debentures, in addition to $32.0 million of scheduled principal debt payments during our fiscal fourth quarter. This debt reduction is another positive step in our phased approach to improve our balance sheet and our cost of capital, and to enhance our financial flexibility. By prepaying these loans now, we will reduce our cash interest expense in fiscal 2017 by $5.8 million pre-tax, or $0.05 per share on an adjusted basis. The prepayment of our higher-cost Brazilian debentures was made possible by our commitment to disciplined capital allocation and strict working capital management to improve free cash flow before net interest."
Montilha continued, "In addition, we are pleased that Fitch Ratings has recently reaffirmed its ratings for Atento Luxco ('BB'/Stable) and Atento Brasil ('AA-(bra)'/Stable), recognizing Atento's positive free cash flow generation and net leverage reduction over the medium term." A copy of Fitch Ratings' press release can be found at: https://www.fitchratings.com/site/pr/1016808.
Upcoming Investor Events:
- Alejandro Reynal, Chief Executive Officer, and Mauricio Montilha, Chief Financial Officer, will participate in Morgan Stanley's Latin America Executive Conference in Miami, Florida, on January 11 and 12, 2017.
- Mr. Montilha will participate in Credit Suisse's Latin America Investment Conference in São Paulo, Brazil, on January 31 and February 1, 2017.
About Atento
Atento is the largest provider of customer relationship management and business process outsourcing (CRM BPO) services in Latin America, and among the top three providers globally, based on revenues. Atento is also a leading provider of nearshoring CRM/BPO services to companies that carry out their activities in the United States. Since 1999, the company has developed its business model in 13 countries where it employs 150,000 people. Atento has over 400 clients to whom it offers a wide range of CRM/BPO services through multiple channels. Atento's clients are mostly leading multinational corporations in sectors such as telecommunications, banking and financial services, health, retail and public administrations, among others. Atento's shares trade under the symbol ATTO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). In 2016, Atento was named one of the World's 25 Best Multinational Workplaces by Great Place to Work® for a fourth consecutive year. For more information visit www.atento.com
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "intends," "continue" or similar terminology. These statements reflect only Atento's current expectations and are not guarantees of future performance or results. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, competition in Atento's highly competitive industries; increases in the cost of voice and data services or significant interruptions in these services; Atento's ability to keep pace with its clients' needs for rapid technological change and systems availability; the continued deployment and adoption of emerging technologies; the loss, financial difficulties or bankruptcy of any key clients; the effects of global economic trends on the businesses of Atento's clients; the non-exclusive nature of Atento's client contracts and the absence of revenue commitments; security and privacy breaches of the systems Atento uses to protect personal data; the cost of pending and future litigation; the cost of defending Atento against intellectual property infringement claims; extensive regulation affecting many of Atento's businesses; Atento's ability to protect its proprietary information or technology; service interruptions to Atento's data and operation centers; Atento's ability to retain key personnel and attract a sufficient number of qualified employees; increases in labor costs and turnover rates; the political, economic and other conditions in the countries where Atento operates; changes in foreign exchange rates; Atento's ability to complete future acquisitions and integrate or achieve the objectives of its recent and future acquisitions; future impairments of our substantial goodwill, intangible assets, or other long-lived assets; and Atento's ability to recover consumer receivables on behalf of its clients. In addition, Atento is subject to risks related to its level of indebtedness. Such risks include Atento's ability to generate sufficient cash to service its indebtedness and fund its other liquidity needs; Atento's ability to comply with covenants contained in its debt instruments; the ability to obtain additional financing; the incurrence of significant additional indebtedness by Atento and its subsidiaries; and the ability of Atento's lenders to fulfill their lending commitments. Atento is also subject to other risk factors described in documents filed by the company with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which the statements were made. Atento undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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