Through working with international collaborators, France-headquartered banks and finance companies, Groupe Avril, has generated some €880 million. It will channel the sum into funding future growth and securing customer debt.
Of the raised funds, €650 million, through a "club deal", will be used for the former purpose. It involves the banks and financial services companies; Société Générale, ARKEA, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole d’Île de France (Agent), Commerzbank, Crédit Mutuel-CIC, Crédit Lyonnais, HSBC, ING, KBC, and Natixis.
The agri-food company says that it wants to 'fund the ambitions of the AVRIL 2020 strategic plan (published in February 2016); to align the financial structure, with the Group's strategy, by mounting a significant share of funding to the level of AVRIL.
'It will do so by maintaining a balance with bilateral funding, notably at a local level, in order to reflect its strong territorial roots.'
'It aims to extend the maturity of its debt, reduce the costs of funding, and benefit from greater flexibility in a favourable market environment; to have access to the credit lines necessary to fund normal operations.'
In terms of securing customer debt, Avril says 'the existing securitization program will be broadened and optimized: from €150 million it will increase to €230 million.'
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Peter Donnelly. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
