Avril raises €1.18 billion subject to ESG criteria * in order to further accelerate its development

Avril, an industrial and financial operator within the French vegetable oil and protein sector, announces having raised €1.180 billion through its banking partners. This transaction, completed during the summer of 2022, enables the Group to underpin its growth in line with its strategic ambition to become the leader in plant processing solutions, serving the transitions in agriculture, food and the environment. For the first time, this financing includes extra-financial performance criteria, providing an additional driver towards achieving the commitments made in the context of its purpose: Serving the Earth.

This financing, structured around a €900 million bank loan together with a €280 million securitization program for trade receivables, reinforces the Group's financial position and provides it with greater flexibility.  

These additional resources are intended, on the one hand, to finance operations at a time of sharply rising raw material prices and, on the other, to bolster the Group's development. In keeping with its strategic priorities and ambitions, the Group will accordingly continue to intensify and accelerate its growth momentum. This positioning will be pursued through new acquisitions and structural investments across its four priority markets: specialty ingredients, consumer goods, renewable energies, as well as products and services for the agriculture world.

Moreover, in order to ensure the commitments made within the framework of its purpose, Serving the Earth, Avril elected to index this financing to the achievement of extra-financial objectives through the integration of three ESG* criteria. These criteria are based on CSR priorities:
•    Climate concerns: a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions associated with Avril's activities (scopes 1 & 2) by 2030 (vs. reference year 2019)
•    Personal safety: the accident frequency rate (TF2)
•    Gender parity: the proportion of women among the Group's top management

Jean-Philippe Puig, Avril's Chief Executive Officer, "I would like to express my thanks to our banking partners who have once again committed to working with us. By doing so, they demonstrate their confidence in the Group's solidity, the relevance of our strategic choices, and the strength of our model. These enhanced resources will enable us to step up the pace of our profitable and sustainable growth." 

For Aymeric Mongeaud, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer of Avril, "this new financing indexed to ESG criteria reflects a fresh vision of performance that takes into account both financial and non-financial considerations. This is a significant step in the transformation of Avril in line with our purpose. This is also a major part of our financial strategy, which is designed to contribute to overall performance improvement."

For this transaction, Avril received advisory services from Lazard Bank and UGGC. 
The financings were structured by:
•    BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole d'Ile de France (Coordinators), for the bank loan;
•    Crédit Agricole CIB, for the securitization;
•    ING and La Banque Postale as CSR Coordinators.

The banking pool includes the following companies: ARKEA, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole CIB, Crédit Agricole d'Île de France (Agent), Crédit Mutuel-CIC, ING, Intesa Sanpaolo, KBC, La Banque Postale, Le Crédit Lyonnais, Natixis, and Société Générale.


*  ESG for Environmental, Social, and Governance criteria. These indicators enable us to assess the extent to which the company's strategy takes into consideration sustainable development and long-term issues.