Synergy Health, the Swindon-based international sterilisation services group, has secured a multi-million pound refinancing agreement to support its continued global expansion.
Synergy, which employs more than 4,000 people worldwide and specialises in the medical devices and healthcare sectors, has expanded rapidly in recent years through a string of acquisitions. Last month it bought a Malaysian medical device sterilisation firm, a move which followed two major acquisitions in the US and Germany last year. Acquisitions have mainly been funded by operating cashflow and debt.
The group, whose sterilisation businesses include Swindon-based Isotron, has become the leading supplier of sterilisation services to UK hospitals – a market it claims to have created in 1996 – and following the recent acquisitions is now the second-largest global provider of sterilisation services to medical device manufacturers.
The multi-currency refinancing package is funded by seven banks and includes a £105m Sterling-denominated facility and a Euro denominated facility of €130m. It is unsecured over five years and will be used, in part, to pay down a previous facility due to mature next January.
Barclays Corporate in Bristol led the banks as mandated lead arrangers and active bookrunners. Also funding the package are Handelsbanken, HSBC, ING and Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets. These five banks are each providing £16.7m and €20.7m with ANZ and Santander each providing £10.7m and €13.3m.
Barclays Corporate also acted as the co-ordinating bank, and documentation and facility agent.
The banks said the package reflected Synergy’s strengthening global position and its recent strong trading update which showed first-quarter underlying revenues up 14.5% at £77m. Growth was achieved in all its major markets, including 10.8% in the UK and Ireland, 7.5% in Europe and the Middle East, and 14.1% in Asia and Africa.
Synergy’s head of tax and treasury, Jon Turner, said: “We are pleased with the transaction with existing and new lenders, which demonstrates the confidence in our company. The new facility will enable us to sustain our growth through the continued internationalisation of the business and the development of our service offering.”
