Glanbia fund offers milk suppliers flexible loans with no winter repayments

A fund offering a flexible loan product aimed at milk suppliers is calling for applications.

The MilkFlex fund is offered by Glanbia Co-operative Society along with the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, Rabobank and Finance Ireland and offers flexible loans with loan repayments based on movements in milk prices.

The fund aims to provide milk suppliers with a funding product that supports investment for assets including livestock, milking platform infrastructure and land improvement.

Since its launch in May last year, the fund has received loan applications in excess of €75 million and the average loan drawn from the fund has been €100,000.

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"The Glanbia MilkFlex Fund has proven very popular among our milk suppliers to date," said Henry Corbally, Glanbia Co-op chairman.

The repayment terms of the loans are adjusted in line with movements in Glanbia Ireland’s manufacturing milk price and seasonality to help farmers with cash flow relief.

Rabobank, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, Finance Ireland and Glanbia Co-operative Society are co-investors in the fund while Finance Ireland originates the loans and manage all aspects of the fund. A variable rate of 3.75 per cent above the monthly Euribor cost of funds is charged on the loans.

The MilkFlex loans have a standard term of eight years and can be extended by up to a maximum of a further two years when volatility triggers are enacted. A main feature of the loans is the movement of loan repayments in line with Glanbia Ireland milk manufacturing prices.

For example, when the Glanbia manufacturing milk price falls below 28 cent per litre for three consecutive months, there is a six month reduction by 50 per cent in loan repayments.

Loan repayments are automatically deducted from the supplier’s milk receipts by Glanbia Ireland. During the low milk production months from November to February there will be no loan repayments.

Finance Ireland are hosting a stand with Glanbia Ireland at the National Ploughing Championships September 19th-21st to answer any questions about the fund.