The rescue package for the agricultural trading group Baywa is being delayed. According to a report by the ”Stock Exchange Newspaper” mainly due to missing signatures of bank managers on an important document.
According to the plan, an agreement should already have been signed in which the two anchor shareholders and the creditor banks would pledge aid amounting to several hundred million euros.
Severely injured
But the peak holiday season has apparently thrown a spanner in the works for those involved, as many decision-makers are still on vacation – and electronic signatures do not seem to be possible for some of them.
According to earlier reports, the badly hit agricultural and building materials trader Baywa is to receive around 400 million euros, partly as a loan and partly as equity.
The banks would contribute half, it was said. The other half would come from the predominantly cooperative owners.
Hoher Schuldenberg
The company, with its approximately 23,000 employees, is faced with a mountain of debt amounting to eleven billion euros, half of which results from financial liabilities.
Due to the rapid rise in lending rates, the company’s interest burden tripled from 2021 to 2023.
The largest creditor banks include DZ Bank, LBBW, Hypovereinsbank, Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank.
Anchor shareholders have pledged aid
The two Baywa anchor shareholders, Bayerische Raiffeisen-Beteiligungs-AG and Raiffeisen Agrar Invest AG, have promised to provide financial support. These investment companies are primarily backed by Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken from Bavaria and cooperative institutes from Austria.
