BREAL Zeta completes £100m multi-jurisdictional funding facility for Nynas

BREAL Zeta has provided a complex £100m multi-jurisdictional receivables facility for Nynas AB (Sweden), Nynas AB’s UK Branch and the group’s Singapore subsidiary, Nynas PTE Ltd (together “Nynas”), providing significant working capital. The facility forms a substantial part of a suite of solutions to support the business, alongside senior lenders.

With around 1000 employees, production facilities in Europe and South America as well as offices in over 30 countries, Nynas is the leading brand and global market leader in NSP (naphthenic specialty products) and a market leader in bitumen in the European market where it operates. Nynas was founded in 1928 and is headquartered in Stockholm, with refineries located in Nynashamn and Gothenburg in Sweden, Harburg in Germany and Eastham in the UK under a joint venture with Shell.

Its products support growth in infrastructure and touch the lives of nearly everyone, every day through a presence in roads, roofs, running shoes, adhesives, rubber, paint, magazines and lubricants, which are just some of the thousands of objects that contain Nynas oils.

Since 2017, the group has faced a number of considerable challenges as a direct result of US trade sanctions on its then Venezuelan majority beneficial owner. With no access to hedging facilities, the absence of supplier credit and a complete restriction on trading USD, in a dollar dominated market, as well as the adverse impact of Covid-19, the business has demonstrated exceptional strength and resilience during this period. Having successfully restructured itself including a change in majority ownership, the removal of trade sanctions, adopting an entirely new supplier base and having adapted refineries to be able to process an alternative product, the business is now positioned to build on its strong market presence, long-standing customer relationships and its reputation as a global leader in both bitumen and NSP.

Commenting on the transaction, Eva Kaijser, CFO at Nynas AB, said: “We were delighted to work with BREAL Zeta on this transaction. They were flexible in their approach to structuring a facility that would work for our business, demonstrated an ability to provide funding across multiple jurisdictions and maintained a complete focus on getting the deal over the line. In addition to having a good knowledge of our sector, BREAL Zeta’s team also showed a real willingness to understand the dynamics of our business, which will enable them to provide additional support as our business evolves.”

Russell Gilling, managing director, Sales at BREAL Zeta, said: “This was a highly complex, multi-jurisdictional transaction for a group that has resiliently faced up to a range of significant operational and financial challenges for a number of years. We were delighted to have been involved at the heart of this deal and to have supported Nynas at such a critical stage with a substantial quantum of working capital to help secure both the stabilisation and acceleration of the operational restructure of the business.”