The public offering will be made in Germany on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange from May 6 to May 8, 2015. The private placement is limited to Germany, select European and other countries, but excludes the US, Canada, Australia and Japan. Katjes hopes to raise at least €45m($50m) and up to €60m ($67m).
Paying off 2011 bond the priority
“The use of the proceeds is to first refinance our existing bond,” Stephan Milde, CFO of Katjes International, told ConfectioneryNews.
The company previously raised €45m from a corporate bond in July 2011 for a five-year term that expires on July 2016. That money was used to finance the acquisition of France’s number two sugar confectionery brand Lutti, its Belgian distributor Continental Sweets, German medicinal sweets firm Dallmann and German panned confectioner Piasten.
Italy and Spain possibilities for future acquisitions
Katjes will use €45m ($50m) of proceeds from the latest corporate bond to pay off the 2011 bond. Any leftovers will go towards financing future acquisitions in Western Europe.
We asked Milde which countries were attractive. “We are interested in all of them, but there are two countries where we are not yet active, which is Italy and Spain.” He added: “Our key focus is sugar confectionery.”
Katjes International posted its fiscal 2014 results last week and recorded a 11.5% year-on-year rise in net revenues to €146.1m ($162.7m) and grew net profit from €4.2m ($4.7m) in 2013 to €28.8m ($32m). The company is targeting 2015 net revenues of €205-215m ($228-239m).