HEICO Corporation Announces 25% Increase in Credit Facility

HEICO Corporation (NYSE:HEI.A) (NYSE:HEI) today announced that it increased its revolving credit facility (the “Facility”) to $1 billion, which is a $200 million, or 25%, increase to the Facility’s previous, $800 million limit.  This Facility’s term expires in December 2018 and there are no maturities under the Facility until then.

HEICO has used the Facility, which is available for general corporate purposes, principally to make acquisitions.  Since 1996, the Company has completed approximately 60 acquisitions and remains committed to disciplined capital allocation.  The Company expects to soon close its previously announced pending acquisition of Air Cost Control.  Further, the Company continues to review numerous acquisition candidates and to seek additional acquisitions.

The Facility is lead-managed by SunTrust, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.  The $200 million increase resulted from the exercise of the Facility’s “accordion” feature, which was subject to the consent of HEICO’s lenders.

Laurans A. Mendelson, HEICO's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, along with Co-Presidents, Eric A. Mendelson and Victor H. Mendelson remarked, “We are pleased to expand our credit facility capacity to $1 billion and to have such strong support and confidence from our lenders.  HEICO’s financial strength, coupled with our expanded funding capacity, should allow us to continue executing our strategic goals.”

The Company has two classes of common stock traded on the NYSE.  Both classes, the Class A Common Stock (HEI.A) and the Common Stock (HEI), are virtually identical in all economic respects.  The only difference between the share classes is the voting rights.  The Class A Common Stock (HEI.A) receives 1/10 vote per share and the Common Stock (HEI) receives one vote per share.  The stock symbols for HEICO's two classes of common stock on most web sites are HEI.A and HEI.  However, some web sites change HEICO's Class A Common Stock symbol (HEI.A) to HEI/A or HEIa.

HEICO Corporation is engaged primarily in the design, production, servicing and distribution of products and services to certain niche segments of the aviation, defense, space, medical, telecommunications and electronics industries through its Hollywood, Florida-based Flight Support Group and its Miami, Florida-based Electronic Technologies Group.  HEICO’s customers include a majority of the world’s airlines and overhaul shops, as well as numerous defense and space contractors and military agencies worldwide, in addition to medical, telecommunications and electronics equipment manufacturers.  For more information about HEICO, please visit our website at http://www.heico.com. 

Certain statements in this press release constitute forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks, uncertainties and contingencies.  HEICO's actual results may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by those forward-looking statements as a result of factors including: lower demand for commercial air travel or airline fleet changes or airline purchasing decisions, which could cause lower demand for our goods and services; product specification costs and requirements, which could cause an increase to our costs to complete contracts; governmental and regulatory demands, export policies and restrictions, reductions in defense, space or homeland security spending by U.S. and/or foreign customers or competition from existing and new competitors, which could reduce our sales; our ability to introduce new products and services at profitable pricing levels, which could reduce our sales or sales growth; product development or manufacturing difficulties, which could increase our product development costs and delay sales; our ability to make acquisitions and achieve operating synergies from acquired businesses; customer credit risk; interest, foreign currency exchange and income tax rates; economic conditions within and outside of the aviation, defense, space, medical, telecommunications and electronics industries, which could negatively impact our costs and revenues; and defense budget cuts, which could reduce our defense-related revenue.  Parties receiving this material are encouraged to review all of HEICO's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to filings on Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K.  We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law.

Contact:  
Victor H. Mendelson [phone] 
Carlos L. Macau, Jr. [phone]