You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Lagardère takes ‚Ǩ465m state-guaranteed loan to counter effects of pandemic
Hachette UK's parent company Lagardère has taken a ‚Ǩ465m French government-backed loan to help it cope with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
Although Hachette UK reported a "stellar" third quarter in November, with year-on-year growth of 15.6% and record download revenue for e-books and audio, its parent firm saw a year-on-year revenue decline of 38.3%, largely caused by declines in its travel retail business.
The group issued a statement on Monday (4th January) saying it had "consolidated its financial position" by arranging the government-backed loan and amending and extending the term of its revolving credit facility "in view of the uncertainty surrounding the ongoing health crisis".
It said the loan had been arranged with its main French and European banking partners and that it is 80%-backed by the French state. The initial maturity of the loan is 12 months, with an extension option for up to five additional years. A consortium of banks granted the loand, including BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole CIB, Crédit Agricole √éle de France, LCL, ING, Natixis, Société Générale and Unicredit.
At the same time, Lagardère has agreed with its banking partners to amend and extend the term of its revolving credit facility: adjusting the amount of the facility to ‚Ǩ1.1bn; extending the term of a ‚Ǩ1bn tranche from May 2022 to March 2023; and redefining the covenants over the period to take account of the impacts of the health crisis on all of the Lagardère group's businesses.
This should give breathing space to Lagardère group chief Arnaud Lagardère, who is trying to ward off challenges to his leadership by shareholders Vivendi and Amber Capital that came to a head last July. In mid-December, Lagardère received another boost, when the Paris appeal court rejected his opponents’ demand for an extraordinary shareholders meeting in a bid to obtain seats on the group’s supervisory board.
