Ornua Signs New €610 Million Bank Facility to Support Continued Dairy Industry Growth
Ornua, the largest exporter of primary Irish dairy products with annualised sales of about €2 billion across 110 countries, has secured new five-year syndicated bank facilities of €610 million, replacing its existing €420 million syndicated bank facilities from February 2014. The new facilities will extend to November 2022, and Ornua’s early refinancing of the existing facilities took advantage of positive bank market conditions.
The refinanced facilities comprise of two distinct parts:
* €260 million committed syndicated Revolving Credit Facility (“RCF”) (including €60 million of ancillary facilities) to fund Ornua’s own working capital requirements and its international growth strategy.
* €350 million committed syndicated Reverse Invoice Discounting Facility (“RID”) to fund the working capital requirements of Ornua’s members suppliers, Ireland’s dairy processors.
In addition, a further €100 million is available, if required over the five-year period, under the facilities (€50 million under the RCF and €50 million under the RID), by way of an uncommitted tranche of funding, which would bring the total RCF to €310 million and the total RID to €400 million.
The participant Banks remain the same as under the previous facilities: Allied Irish Banks; Bank of America Merrill Lynch; Barclays; HSBC; Rabobank; Ulster Bank.
Donal Buggy, group finance director at Ornua, comments: “The successful refinancing ensures that Ornua retains access to the banking liquidity it needs to continue implementing our strategic five-year growth plan ‘Ornua 2021’ following the removal of milk quotas in 2015, and delivering strong product price returns for Irish dairy farmers. Not only does it strengthen our capital structure, but it also provides continued working capital support to our member suppliers and ultimately the dairy community across Ireland. It is particularly pleasing that we have retained the same group of Irish and international banking partners, and we note that the deal was significantly over-subscribed demonstrating their continued support for Ornua and the Irish dairy industry.”
Ornua has continued to deliver strong growth in international markets in 2017 across its Ornua Foods and Ornua Ingredients divisions. Highlights include the launch of Kerrygold butter into the South Korean market, the opening of an Innovation Centre in Chicago, Illinois, the launch of Kerrygold cheese in Singapore, the acquisition of F.J. Need Limited, a UK-based cheese ingredients company and the announcement of a supply partnership with EasiYo, a fresh yogurt brand from New Zealand.
