REG - Dekel Agri-Vision - Final Bond Facility Drawdown on Improved Terms

Dekel Agri-VisionAnnouncement

25/07/2022 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20220725:nRSY4536Ta&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 4536T  Dekel Agri-Vision PLC  25 July 2022

Dekel Agri-Vision Plc / Index: AIM / Epic: DKL / Sector: Food Producers

 

25 July 2022

Dekel Agri-Vision Plc ('Dekel' or the 'Company')

Final Bond Facility Drawdown on Improved Terms

 

Dekel Agri-Vision Plc (AIM: DKL), the West African focused agriculture company
focused on building a portfolio of sustainable and diversified projects, is
pleased to confirm the completion of an oversubscribed final drawdown of
approximately €9.2 million from the approximately €15.2 million seven-year
bond facility previously announced on 19 and 26 January 2021.

 

The final drawdown has a fixed interest rate of 7.25% which is 50 basis points
lower than the first drawdown, resulting from the strong financial performance
in 2021 and promising outlook of the Company. We believe this is particularly
positive when set against the backdrop of rising global interest rates. The
repayment terms mirror the first drawdown and include an initial three-year
capital repayment holiday. At the expiry of this initial three-year period,
the capital repayments of the final bond drawdown will be approximately €2.3
million per annum during years four to seven of the loan.

 

The proceeds of the final bond drawdown will largely be used to refinance
existing debt facilities with higher interest rates.  We are currently in
discussions with these debt providers and we will provide further updates as
appropriate in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders.

 

Lincoln Moore, Dekel's Executive Director, said: "The final oversubscribed
drawdown from our bond facility priced 50 basis points lower than the previous
drawdown is a strong endorsement from both local and international
institutions, particularly at a time where global debt interest rates have
risen considerably recently. Importantly, it also strengthens our funding
platform as we enter a period of expected material operating and financial
growth, particularly associated with the ramp-up of production from our
Tiebissou Cashew Processing Plant as detailed in our monthly operating
updates.

 

"Our two to three year strategy remains unchanged in terms of utilising the
principal grace periods of the bond facility to ensure we are well funded
internally while we build our cash base from the material uplift in operating
cash flow expected as the Palm Oil Operation and Cashew Operation work in
tandem.  Dekel will then have optionality to either pay down debt or access
lower cost financing to fund future growth plans and, at the appropriate time,
look to recommence a dividend programme, thereby providing shareholders with a
yield as well as capital growth."

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
the UK version of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 which is part of UK law by
virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended ("MAR"). Upon
the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service,
this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

 

** ENDS **

 

For further information please visit the Company's website
www.dekelagrivision.com or contact:

 

 Dekel Agri-Vision Plc                     +44 (0) 207 236 1177

 Youval Rasin

 Shai Kol

 Lincoln Moore

 WH Ireland Ltd (Nomad and Joint Broker)   +44 (0) 20 7220 1666

 James Joyce / Ben Good

 Optiva Securities Limited (Joint Broker)  +44 (0) 203 137 1903

 Christian Dennis / Daniel Ingram

Notes:

Dekel Agri-Vision Plc is a multi-project, multi-commodity agriculture company
focused on West Africa.  It has a portfolio of projects in Côte d'Ivoire at
various stages of development: a fully operational palm oil project in
Ayenouan where fruit produced by local smallholders is processed at the
Company's 60,000tpa capacity crude palm oil mill and a cashew processing
project in Tiebissou, which commenced production in early January 2021.

 

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  MSCSEDSUEEESEEW