(By Balaseshan) SPX Corp. (NYSE: SPW), a maker of flow technology products, said it has cut its total debt by about $450 million during the fourth quarter and it closed the $350 million share repurchase plan it entered into in early 2012.
These actions are consistent with the previously communicated capital allocation plans for the use of about $1.15 billion of proceeds from the sale of Service Solutions which was completed on December 3, 2012.
After receiving the proceeds from the sale of Service Solutions, SPX reduced its total debt. This included the repayment of its $300 million Term Loan X and a $25 million partial repayment of its Term Loan A.
SPX ended 2012 with about $1.7 billion of total debt and $700 million of net debt. The company now has no significant debt repayment obligations until Q4-2014.
In the first quarter of 2012, SPX entered into a 10b5-1 share repurchase plan to facilitate the repurchase of $350 million of its stock. Phase 1 of this share repurchase plan was completed in Q2-2012 and totaled $75 million or 1 million shares.
Shortly after receiving the proceeds from the sale of Service Solutions, Phase 2 of the company's 10b5-1 share repurchase plan began trading. Under Phase 2, SPX completed repurchases of $275 million or 4.1 million shares. In total, the company repurchased 5.1 million shares under this plan or about 10% of its shares outstanding.
SPW closed Tuesday's regular session at $69.44. The stock has been trading between $56.31 and $79.42 for the past 52 weeks.