Barenbrug - Refinancing without headache

“By appointing a project coordinator from Orchard, who completed this intensive process to our full satisfaction within the agreed time schedule, we were hardly burdened ourselves. Therefore, we could dedicate our time to projects that add growth and added value to Barenbrug.”

René van Raan, CFO/ Lid van de Raad van Bestuur

Challenge

The Koninklijke Barenbrug Group (hereinafter referred to as “Barenbrug”) is active in the development, production, marketing and sales of grass seeds, and is a global leader in recreational grasses, forage grasses and other leguminous forage crops. In 2018, Barenbrug started a process to replace its financing that was to expire in 2019. While closing the existing financing, it had become apparent that the documentation process put a lot of pressure on the internal organization, partly due to the number of foreign entities that are part of the group financing. In addition to acting as financing advisor, Barenbrug has therefore also asked Orchard to coordinate the entire documentation process and thus completely free up the CFO and Group Controller.

Solution

In order to relieve Barenbrug as much as possible, a project coordinator was appointed from Orchard who acted as a link between the domestic and foreign Barenbrug entities, the banks and the law firms. The project coordinator monitored the entire process: the planning and intended timelines, the delivery and reading of the necessary (internal) documents and the mutual communication.

Results

The documentation process was completed within the intended schedule and to the satisfaction of all parties involved. Due to the appointment of a project coordinator, the time spent by the CFO and the Group Controller on the documentation process was negligeable.