Linz am Rhein, May 2, 2023 – Today BIRKENSTOCK Group made a USD 50 million voluntary prepayment of its USD Term Loan B. This prepayment reflects BIRKENSTOCK’s continued excellent operating results, strong liquidity position, and stated commitment to balance sheet deleveraging. Following this repayment, the USD Term Loan B principal balance will stand at approximately USD 785 million; a reduction of USD 65 million versus its original balance.
The funds for today's early repayment were generated from the operating cash flow of BIRKENSTOCK Group. This voluntary prepayment is an expression of the Group’s consistently strong operating results and accompanying free cash flow. BIRKENSTOCK also continues to invest for growth, including the construction of a new production site in Pasewalk, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. With this prepayment, both BIRKENSTOCK Group itself and its shareholders affirm the stated objective to continue to deleverage the balance sheet, adding to the already substantial deleveraging that has occurred as a result of the Group’s earnings growth. This deleveraging has also been aided by the strong support of BIRKENSTOCK Group’s shareholders. Since L Catterton’s acquisition of BIRKENSTOCK Group (in April 2021), shareholders of BIRKENSTOCK Group have received no shareholder distributions.
The ABL revolving credit facility with a capacity of EUR 200 million remains fully undrawn and therefore available in it’s entirely to BIRKENSTOCK Group.