Patagonian Fruits Trade (PFT), a company of the Prima Group –the largest producer of organic fruits and exporter of fresh fruit in Argentina–, achieved placing a total of 206 million pesos in two 100% guaranteed Classes of Negotiable Obligations (ON) thanks to a commercial alliance between PPI and the Reciprocal Guarantee Companies (SGR) ArgenPymes, Acindar, Crecer, Affidavit, Mills, and Garantizar. This has allowed the entity to obtain genuine financing at competitive rates at a time when few firms are accessing this benefit.
"This is the first time that a regional SME exporting company has achieved such a volume of placement," stated Hugo Sanchez, the head of the firm.
The importance of this new operation for the Rio Negro and Neuquén Valley region is that it also opens a window for regional financing to a sector that needs working capital to be able to carry out its investments, which, in general, are all medium and long term investments.
The company based in General Roca has an average turnover of 78 million dollars for its exports each season, a figure that increases to 100 million dollars when including its sales in the domestic market.
“Demand exceeded placement levels and this allowed us to achieve a lower rate than we had initially projected. All this positive scenario (high demand for ON) occurred due to the productive projects that are underway in PFT and the solidity of our company's balance sheets,” the executive stated.
The amount issued for Class A was 144.2 million pesos (registering offers above 339 million pesos), with a term of 30 months and a Badlar rate of +0.99%. At the same time, Class B added a NAV of 61.8 million pesos –with a demand that also exceeded the initial offer by more than 1.5 times–, for a term of 48 months and a Badlar rate of 6%.
Demand was concentrated in the largest Common Investment Funds (FCI) and Insurance Companies. There was also outstanding participation of the Investment and Foreign Trade Bank (BICE) in Class B, which allowed extending the financing term of the issue.
"The initiative to enter the capital market was born in 2019 when we observed that the financing for productive and commercial projects that were already underway could be slashed," stated Sanchez.
Source: rionegro.com.ar
