'Robust capital structure'

Lecta's refinance plans gain majority support

Lecta plans further transformation towards specialty papers

Lecta’s refinancing plan has been given the thumbs up by most of its stakeholders.

The papermaking group has announced that 88% by value of its First Senior Secured Notes (SSNs), and 99% by value of its Second SSNs have given their consent to the plan, announced earlier this month.

The proposed transaction involves a €75m-plus (£64.7m) ‘new money facility’ and the extension of its existing revolving credit facility, term loan and secured loan notes by three years, to 2028.

In addition, 100% of the holders of the debt under its Super Senior Facilities Agreement (SSFA) have rubber stamped the necessary changes.

Lecta CEO Gilles Van Nieuwenhuyzen commented: “The company thanks its stakeholders for their support to implement a successful refinancing and new money injection resulting in a robust capital structure and solid liquidity position, which will allow Lecta to execute on its capex initiatives and help deliver the further transformation towards specialty papers.”

Separately, Lecta has announced that it plans to continue to “anticipate and carefully manage our water usage and consumption through increasingly efficient processes and water management strategies”.

The Spain-headquartered firm stated: “Even though our outlet water is within regulated legal limits, we continue to work on improving water quality to reduce our environment footprint even further and constantly monitor waste disposal. In addition, in our mills there are also closed water systems, in which water is reused repeatedly.”

By 2030, and using the baseline of production in 2022, the group aims to increase the amount of water that is recycled to 95%, and decrease the amount of water consumed to 10 cubic metres per metric ton of paper.

The 2022 figures were 87% and 15.6m3, respectively.