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Barclays supports Co-operative Group in £1 billion refinancing

30 Jul 2012 09:15 GMT

The Co-operative Group has successfully refinanced £950 million of senior debt facilities with pre-agreed capacity to increase to £1billion with the support of a syndicate of banks led by Barclays.

The new finance package will enable the Co-operative Group to continue to develop the trading operations of the UK’s largest mutual organisation which operates more than 4,800 retail trading outlets, employs more than 106,000 people and has an annual turnover of more than £13bn.

Barclays, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Handelsbanken each provided £150m with the Co-operative Bank and Bank of Ireland providing a further £125m and £75m respectively.

Roger Morgan, Treasurer for the Co-operative Group, said: “The Co-operative Group is delighted to have successfully refinanced its core banking facilities for the next five years. Given the challenging economic backdrop it was extremely important to work closely with a trusted partner bank to achieve our objectives. Barclays have continuously demonstrated the value of a long standing relationship and their team once again excelled by professionally leading this transaction to a very successful outcome”

Jim Quantrill, the Relationship Director leading the deal for Barclays said: “Barclays has a long standing and very close relationship with the Group and this over-subscribed financing shows the attraction of the Co-operative brand for funders and a high regard for the business and management team. As lead bank, we have shown our capability in providing structuring support, documentary lead and management of the process generally during a complex transaction, these being core strengths of Barclays”.


About Barclays

Barclays is a major global financial services provider engaged in personal banking, credit cards, corporate and investment banking and wealth and investment management with an extensive international presence in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia.

With over 300 years of history and expertise in banking, Barclays operates in over 50 countries and employs approximately 140,000 people. Barclays moves, lends, invests and protects money for customers and clients worldwide.

For further information about Barclays, please visit our website www.barclays.com.