11:52 AM EDT, 09/04/2024 (MT Newswires) -- CGI announced a $750 million private offering of senior unsecured notes which is expected to close September 5. Net proceeds will be used to repay existing debt, including US$350 million in senior notes maturing on September 12, 2024 and for general corporate purposes.

National Bank's Richard Tse considers this a routine financing for CGI and estimates CGI will have ~$2.95 billion in available liquidity subsequent to this financing and after paying down the US notes with a leverage ratio of 0.4x (net debt / TTM EBITDA) providing it flexibility for growth initiatives, acquisitions or other strategic investments.

"Our view is that we'll see an increase in the pace of acquisition activity for CGI over the next 12 months similar in size to recent acquisitions with names like Celero and Aeyon in this quarter. CGI is estimated to have 25k potential targets in its pipeline and 1.5k active prospects (i.e., began diligence process)."

CGI is rated Outperform with a price target of $185 at National Bank.

Price: 152.00, Change: +0.22, Percent Change: +0.14