Dairy co-operative reaches agreement over new credit facility

FrieslandCampina, the Dutch dairy co-operative, has reached agreement on a new credit facility worth €1 billion with a syndicate of Dutch and international banks.

The credit facility has a term of three years and will be used for the current financing of the company. It replaces Friesland Foods €550 million revolving credit facility which had a term of five years and bilateral credit facilities of Campina. The subscription opened in July. The facility ended up being oversubscribed by 25 per cent.

“Despite the difficult prevailing credit conditions, we have succeeded in closing a new credit facility,” comments Kees Gielen, chief financial officer of FrieslandCampina. “The great international interest and the oversubscription testify to the confidence that financial institutions have in FrieslandCampina. Our good international position in the dairy sector and our cooperative structure played a role in this. This is important for our member dairy farmers who are the owners of the company through the co-operative.”

The syndicate consists of the following banks: Fortis Bank Nederland, ING Wholesale Banking, Lloyds TSB Bank plc, Rabobank International, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, Friesland Bank, KBC, Banque LBLux, NIB Capital, HSBC, BBVA, Citibank and Intesa SanPaolo.