BOSTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Shares of Manitowoc Co (MTW.N) rose 12 percent to a year-high on Friday, a day after the maker of cranes said it planned to refinance about $400 million in debt to increase its financial flexibility.
The company is also seeking related amendments to financial covenants on its senior credit agreement, it said in a statement Thursday.
The potential success of the senior unsecured notes offering would alleviate existing covenant concerns for the company, according to analysts.
"(Manitowoc's) ability to de-lever the balance sheet faster than expected is a significant positive and suggests that the company is seeing earnings momentum and successfully liquidating working capital ahead of our expectations," Deutsche Bank analyst Nigel Coe wrote in a note.
The Manitowoc, Wisconsin-based company said late on Thursday that it had paid down about $470 million in debt in 2009, $20 million more than it had planned.
"Achieving its debt reduction targets for the year also restores some confidence in their ability to monetize working capital in the current environment," Macquarie Securities analyst Steven Song said.
Funding the $2.7 billion Enodis acquisition in 2008 saw Manitowoc incurring a debt of $2.5 billion, as of Dec. 31.
Shares of the company were up 8 percent at $14.10 in late morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange. They touched a high of $14.60 earlier in the session. (Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston, Bijoy Koyitty in Bangalore; editing by Dave Zimmerman and Gopakumar Warrier)