Imperial Tobacco closes loans to finance Reynold's purchases

• Imperial Tobacco (ITYBY) has closed approximately $13B of loans to finance its acquisition of several brands and assets of Reynolds American (NYSE:RAI).
• The financing covers the $7.1B acquisition of cigarette brands, Winston, Maverick, Kool, Salem and blu, which Reynolds wished to unload to clear the way for its merger with Lorillard (NYSE:LO).
• As part of the purchase, Imperial will also take over Lorillard's national sales force, offices and production facilities.