Deneys, acting as sole legal counsel to Fedgroup Smart Agri Fund Proprietary Limited and a second senior funder, advised on the expansion of the financing arrangements of Forward Finance Institutional Proprietary Limited, including (a) the expansion of an existing structured finance facility provided by Fedgroup as an existing lender; and (b) the provision of a separate new senior facility provided by the second senior funder as a new lender. The total commitments under the transaction amount to approximately ZAR1 billion.
Forward Finance provides tailored financial solutions to Agri processors, marketers, farmers and growers across South Africa's agricultural supply chain, principally in the form of working capital. The expanded facilities widen Forward Finance's funding base, giving the platform additional capital to deploy in support of agri supply chain nationally, and bringing a leading institutional fixed-income manager onto its lender roster.
Deneys advised on all aspects of the transaction, including the transaction structure, financing documentation, intercreditor arrangements and implementation process. The team's role included drafting and negotiating the principal transaction documents, managing conditions precedent and coordinating the closing process across the various transaction parties.
The transaction presented several structural and legal complexities, including the interaction between senior and mezzanine funding arrangements, intercreditor governance mechanisms and payment waterfall considerations. It also required preserving the existing security structure while introducing an additional lender to the existing financing arrangements.
The matter was led by Izak Lessing, with support from Tiyana Ramchunder
Latest news
