Online services specialist secures £222m HSBC funding following acquisition

London headquartered online services specialist CentralNic has secured $250m (approx. £222m) of bank funding in a deal led by HSBC UK to support its ambitious M&A strategy.

The funding is comprised of a $150m (approx. £133m) Term Loan to refinance an existing Nordic Bond, as well as an additional $100m (approx. £88.6m) Revolving Credit Facility (RCF), to provide CentralNic with increased liquidity as it continues to pursue key acquisitions internationally.

The funding has been provided by a syndicate of six banks with HSBC UK as Bookrunner and Mandated Lead Arranger having provided $70m (approx. £62m) as part of the overall funding package.

Ben Crawford, chief executive officer at CentralNic, commented: “Our ambition is to continue to achieve nearly 100 per cent growth year-on-year. The first half of our financial year has been very strong with over 60 per cent organic growth, and we are looking to continue to supplement organic growth through acquisitions.

“We have an excellent track record of making low-cost, highly earnings accretive acquisitions, and this new facility provides us with added firepower to draw down on as needed to finance future deals.”

Michael Wilding, relationship director at HSBC UK, added: “CentralNic’s ambition to enable access to and support within the digital economy globally reflects true internationalism, which naturally aligns with HSBC’s global capabilities.

“We are proud to support such an ambitious business, whilst enabling further acquisitions in key markets as it continues on its growth trajectory.”

CentralNic most recently announced its acquisition of Aporia, a tech firm which it acquired for up to $19m (approx. £16.8m) in September.

By Matthew Neville – Correspondent, Bdaily

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