Company profile

Financial management

The financing of Südzucker Group is based on sustainable cash flows, strong relationships with the shareholder groups behind the company, access to international capital markets and reliable banking relationships. Südzucker clearly aims to confirm ist investment grade rating. Südzucker uses an optimal mix of financial instruments, taking into consideration terms to maturity and interest rates. These include hybrid bonds, bonds, commercial paper, promissory notes and syndicated or bilateral bank credit lines. The bonds are generally issued by the Dutch financing company Südzucker International Finance B.V. and used throughout the group. Acquisitions and investments are financed in consideration of the financial ratios that must be maintained to keep the company’s investment grade rating.

The unique financing requirements during the fiscal year due to the seasonality of the sugar sector (financing beet purchases and inventories) means that securing short-term cash is an important aspect of our financing structure. Short-term financing requirements are covered by a commercial paper program of € 600 million or a syndicated credit line of € 600 million for Südzucker and syndicated credit lines of € 400 million for subgroup AGRANA. In addition, the group also has bilateral bank facilities at its disposal.