Olin Corporation announced today that it has entered into an accelerated share repurchase agreement with Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC to repurchase an aggregate of $100 million of Olin’s common stock. The ASR will be executed under its share repurchase authorization announced on May 1, 2018. Since May 2018, approximately 3.8 million shares of common stock were repurchased at a cost of $85.6 million. Upon completion of the ASR program, Olin will have approximately $314.4 million available under its share repurchase authorization.
John E. Fischer, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Today’s announcement reaffirms our confidence in Olin’s long-term business prospects and the Company’s ability to generate strong and expanding levels of cash flow. The opportunistic accelerated share buyback combined with the recently completed re-financing, which will lower the cost and extend the maturity of our debt structure, enables us to enhance our capital structure. We believe that an accelerated share buyback program, given Olin’s current stock valuation and our long-term view of market fundamentals, creates an opportunity to drive value for our shareholders. Olin remains committed to a balanced and disciplined approach to capital allocation by investing in our businesses, deleveraging the balance sheet and returning cash to our shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.”
Under the terms of the ASR agreement, Olin has agreed to repurchase an aggregate of $100 million of its common stock from Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, with an initial delivery of approximately 4.3 million shares. The ASR agreement is scheduled to terminate within two months but may be terminated early in certain circumstances, in whole or in part. The total number of shares ultimately repurchased under the program will be determined upon final settlement and will be based on the volume-weighted average price of Olin’s common stock during the applicable valuation period, less a discount.