Royal FloraHolland has just concluded a new credit facility worth €195 million. This will allow the auction plenty of opportunity to invest over the coming years in digitalisation and daily service provision, among other possibilities. The new credit line comes from three banks.
Royal FloraHolland is setting three priorities in 2018:
1.Floriday, the new global digital platform for growers
2.Integrated Logistic Control to enable nationwide auctioning
3.The daily service provision
Steven van Schilfgaarde, Chief Financial Officer at Royal FloraHolland, explained. “We invest in digital to promote continued growth of the marketplace, for which the continued improvement of our daily service provision plays an essential part. With this new facility, we can realize all our plans for 2018. It is a clear sign of the banks’ confidence in our direction.”
Flexibility
The new credit line from the combined banks, consisting of Rabobank (coordinator), ABN AMRO and ING, extends for five years with an option for two extensions of one year each. This is replacing a credit facility with more banks than these three that was more expensive for Royal FloraHolland. The new credit line increases our financial flexibility and considerably reduces the cost compared to the previous credit facility.
“With the sum agreed with the banks of €195 million, Royal FloraHolland is future-proof, and an important precondition is fulfilled for the implementation of the formulated Strategy2020,” said Hans van Hooren, Executive Director at Rabobank. “We are proud of having acted as coordinator of Royal FloraHolland’s first multi-bank credit arrangement.”
Source: Royal FloraHolland
