American Greetings Corporation Announces Offering of $225 Million of Senior Notes in Connection With Tender Offers for Its Outstanding 7.375% Senior Notes Due 2016 and 7.375% Notes Due 2016

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Nov 15, 2011, 07:37 ET

CLEVELAND, Nov. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM) ("American Greetings") announced today that it is offering to sell, subject to market and other conditions, $225.0 million aggregate principal amount of senior notes in a public offering under its effective shelf registration statement, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 15, 2011. American Greetings intends to use the net proceeds of the offering, along with cash on hand, to finance its cash tender offers also announced today for any and all of its outstanding 7.375% Senior Notes due 2016 and any and all of its outstanding 7.375% Notes due 2016. Any remaining net proceeds will be used to finance the redemption of any such notes that remain outstanding after the completion of the tender offers.

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and BofA Merrill Lynch are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering.

A registration statement and a preliminary prospectus supplement relating to these securities have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The offering may be made only by means of the preliminary prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. A copy of the preliminary prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus related to this offering may be obtained from J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Attention High Yield – New Issue, 383 Madison Avenue, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10179, Telephone: 800-245-8812 or from BofA Merrill Lynch, Attention: Syndicate Operations, 4 World Financial Center, New York, NY 10080, Telephone: 800-294-1322, or by email: [email protected].

This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About American Greetings Corporation

For more than 100 years, American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM) has been a creator and manufacturer of innovative social expression products that assist consumers in enhancing their relationships to create happiness, laughter and love. American Greetings' major greeting card lines are American Greetings, Carlton Cards, Gibson, Recycled Paper Greetings and Papyrus, and other paper product offerings include DesignWare party goods and American Greetings and Plus Mark gift-wrap and boxed cards. American Greetings also has one of the largest collections of electronic greetings on the Web, including cards available through AG Interactive, Inc. (American Greetings' online division). In addition to its product lines, American Greetings also creates and licenses popular character brands through the American Greetings Properties group. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, American Greetings generates annual revenue of approximately $1.6 billion, and its products can be found in retail outlets worldwide.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements that are forward-looking within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward looking statements are only predictions and are not guarantees of future performance. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are and will be, as the case may be, subject to many risks, uncertainties and factors relating to American Greetings that may cause the actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements.

Although American Greetings believes that the expectations and assumptions reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable based on information currently available to the management of American Greetings, American Greetings cannot guarantee future results or events. American Greetings expressly disclaims a duty to update any of the forward-looking statements contained herein.

SOURCE American Greetings Corporation