GEA repays financial liabilities ahead of schedule
GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft reduced its financial liabilities ahead of schedule by over EUR 400 million in the past few weeks, using various measures. A further repayment of EUR 100 million ahead of schedule is planned for January 2015. GEA is thus systematically implementing its previously announced financial policy of using part of the proceeds of approximately EUR 1 billion from the recent sale of the Heat Exchangers Segment to repay financial liabilities.
Specifically, two loans totaling around EUR 72 million from Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) were repaid initially. In addition, GEA repurchased bonds amounting to EUR 125 million. The remaining bonds totaling approximately EUR 275 million are still due in April 2016. The Company also repaid borrower’s note loans of EUR 210 million in December 2014.
“By the end of January 2015, we will have used around half of the proceeds from the sale of the Heat Exchangers Segment to repay financial liabilities. This not only highlights how important it is for us to maintain our investment grade rating, but also improves our financial result. The repayments will save us interest of approximately EUR 10 million. In the medium term, we want to use existing, available funds from current liquidity and future cash flows for small and medium-sized acquisitions, in order to further strengthen our position as a leading system provider for the food industry,” said Dr. Helmut Schmale, CFO of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft.
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