Trigon Agri A/S signs standby credit facility agreement with a group of its shareholders
Trigon Agri A/S (also the “Company”) hereby informs that on 23 January 2017 it has signed the standby credit facility agreement with a group of its shareholders.
Foreign currency transfer restrictions effective in Ukraine continue to hinder the ability of the Company to finance its overhead costs in Tallinn in the period from March to August 2017. Historically the expenditures for this period have been financed by the advance payments for the future rapeseed deliveries which entail a high degree of a commercial risk both associated with the volatility of the rapeseed market prices and uncertainties in the quantities of own produce of the Company.
Having analysed and considered different financing options, it has been decided to secure the availability of financing (unless alternative financing is obtained) by signing the standby credit facility agreement with several shareholders of Trigon Agri A/S, holding as a group a total of approximately 23.85% of the total outstanding shares. Such group of shareholders is led by Johannes Bertorp, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Trigon Agri A/S and a major shareholder, holding 6.85% of the total outstanding shares in the Company.
The repayment of the credit will be effected during the harvest period 2017 following the planned receipt of the proceeds from commissioning of the 2017 crop export transactions.
The standby credit facility agreement (the “Agreement”) has a maximum limit of SEK 20,000,000 (twenty million Swedish kroners), which can be drawn at any time during the period 23 January 2017 - 31 December 2017.
The Agreement has been signed with the company Maderna Corporate Services AB (Swedish reg.no. 556761-7070, legally and beneficially owned by Johannes Bertorp), acting both as a creditor to Trigon Agri A/S under the Agreement and as an agent for the benefit of other creditors under the Agreement (who have provided firm commitments to contribute to the credit facility in the event of a draw down).
The key terms of the standby credit facility agreement are provided below:
| Standby credit amount* | SEK 20,000,000 |
| Annual Interest | 12%, accrued on the actual credit received |
| Set-up fee** | 1% of the standby credit amount |
| Annual Commission fee** | 2% of the standby credit amount to be paid in equal parts of 0.5% on a quarterly basis for the period 23 January 2017 - 31 December 2017 |
| Collateral | 100% of shares in the company AS Trigon Dairy Farming (a wholly owned subsidiary of Trigon Agri A/S and the direct owner of 39.24% of the shares in AS Trigon Dairy Farming Estonia) |
| Term of the Agreement | credit facility is available until 31 December 2017 |
| Termination | Trigon Agri A/S can unilaterally terminate the standby credit facility agreement by giving the creditor a written notice thereof no later than 3 (three) months prior to the termination date. |
*The Company has a right, but no obligation to draw the credit amount.
**Set-up fee and the accrued commission fee are payable regardless of whether the Company draws upon the credit facility.
Entry into the Agreement has been approved by the Board of Directors of Trigon Agri A/S; Johannes Bertorp, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, has not participated in the voting. The Agreement has been, in the view of the Board of Directors, entered into on arm’s length terms.
Simon Boughton, CEO, commented: “Historically there has been a deficit in cash primarily during the spring in the Tallinn office with the majority of crop sales carried out in the period from July to December. In order to finance the cyclical cash gap in the spring the Company opted to receive advance payments for unharvested crops on the terms which are not the most favourable to the Company. The provision of this standby credit facility enables the Company to carry out sales in response to the market conditions rather than simply to raise cash at any cost, and tonnages sold forward can be realistic to the anticipated own production of the Company. It’s a win-win arrangement that we consider beneficial for Trigon Agri and in support of the strategy. We thank the participating shareholders for the continuing support”.
Investor enquiries:
Mr. Simon Boughton, CEO of Trigon Agri A/S
Tel: +372 6191 500, E-mail: mail@trigonagri.com
About Trigon Agri
Trigon Agri is an integrated soft commodities production, storage and trading company with operations in Ukraine, Russia and Estonia. Trigon Agri’s shares are traded on the main market of Nasdaq Stockholm.
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This information is information that Trigon Agri A/S is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 08:30 CET on 23 January 2017.