Barry Callebaut raises €600m ($667m) promissory note to help finance sustainability projects

Barry Callebaut has announced the successful placement of its first Schuldscheindarlehen, or a promissory note (a loan granted to the borrower by large corporations as lenders without the borrower's credit).

The company said it has raised €467 million in Euro and the equivalent of €133 million in Swiss franc, and two-thirds of the proceeds will finance select sustainability projects, making Barry Callebaut a front runner in this respect among Swiss industrial companies.

The transaction marks the first offering since Barry Callebaut’s upgrade to investment grade and constitutes the company’s first issuance of a Schuldscheindarlehen. The offer was oversubscribed and attracted, besides German and Swiss savings banks, a broad range of international banks. Given the success of its debut in the Schuldscheindarlehen market, the company says it is considering prepaying its outstanding Senior Note of €250m maturing June 15, 2021.

Remco Steenbergen, chief financial officer of the Barry Callebaut Group, said: “We are pleased with the very significant investor interest in our debut in the Schuldschein market. This issuance means for our company a further strengthening of the financial profile and diversifies our debt investor base. The sustainability character of the transaction underscores our commitment to our Forever Chocolate initiative, i.e. our plan to make sustainable chocolate the norm by 2025​.”

New Sustainability Bond Framework released in November 2018​

As part of its plan to make sustainable chocolate the norm by 2025, Barry Callebaut released on its Sustainability Bond Framework in November 2018, which it intends to use for financing or refinancing projects supporting and enhancing the company’s social and environmental programs in key strategic areas such as sustainable cocoa sourcing.

• The average tenor and interest rate of the Schuldscheindarlehen is 7.8 years and 1.47%, respectively. The transaction further improves the Group’s debt and liquidity structure by extending the average maturity and diversifying its sources of financing at attractive interest rates.