INTERVIEW: Telstra CFO Mulling Debt Options to Fund Dividend
SYDNEY -(Dow Jones)- Telstra Corp. Chief Financial Officer John Stanhope Wednesday said the group could issue debt either through the domestic or offshore markets to fund its imminent dividend payment.
Stanhope said the conditions in the credit markets had improved "only very slightly" in recent weeks.
"We do have a dividend payment coming up shortly and we will have to raise some money - whether it's domestic will depend on the conditions," Stanhope told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview.
Telstra Wednesday declared a final dividend of 14 cents per share, representing a total payment of A$1.7 billion.
Payment will be made Sep. 26.
He said Telstra had established facilities to tap debt markets in the U.S., Japan, Europe, China and Australia.
"When we need money we will go to where the price is right," he said.
A bond issue by Telstra in Australia would be the first bond to be issued by a corporate in the domestic market so far this year.
-By Sam Holmes, Dow Jones Newswires;
61-2-8235-2964; samuel.holmes@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Posted to the site on 13th August 2008
