With new name and finance package.
Steinhoff Asia Pacific, parent company of Freedom, Fantastic Furniture, Snooze, Plush, OMF, Best & Less, Harris Scarfe and Postie, has taken on the new name Greenlit Brands and secured a multi-year financing package.
The Greenlit Brands name and logo were developed from within the Group and selected following a group-wide voting process.
Greenlit Brands Group CEO, Michael Ford said, “The Greenlit Brands identity is contemporary and vibrant. It encapsulates the fact that we are a broad group covering a variety of segments across both household goods and general merchandise, both in retail and non-retail operations.
“We have great brands which all originate in Australasia, that are loved by Australian and New Zealand consumers. Our retail brands cover the good, better and best spectrum in the household and general merchandise sectors. We also have our own manufacturing, logistics and supply chain operations which provide support to our retail brands. We look forward to building on this portfolio for our customers under the Greenlit Brands corporate identity.”
Greenlit Brands has also secured a new financing package with a syndicate of three Australian-based banks comprising ANZ, NAB and Deutsche Bank. The package includes a senior facility of $256 million with a tenor through to October 2020.
The refinancing package underlines that Greenlit Brands operates independently from its parent group, Steinhoff International, in terms of its working capital requirements and debt funding needs.
Greenlit Brands’ CFO, Michael Gordon said, “Putting in place longer term funding arrangements for Greenlit Brands is a major step forward for our Group. We are pleased to have secured the longer term for our bank facilities with our local banking partners, which has been struck on normal commercial terms and interest rates.
“This important initiative provides our 10,000 employees, our suppliers and our business partners across all of our respective brands with certainty about the Group and is indicative of the strength and independence of our Group in Australasia.”
Greenlit Brands will continue to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Steinhoff International. No decision has been made concerning the separation from ownership by Steinhoff International and the Group will continue to carefully and methodically consider the various options in due course.