The Dutch human resource services provider Randstad Holding launched a €125 million ($177 million) standby facility for the securitization of accounts receivables.
The company said it launched the standby facility with Fortis Commercial Finance, which is part of Fortis Bank Nederland.
The facility offers Randstad the opportunity to sell accounts receivable of its Belgian entities to Fortis Commercial Finance with a maximum of €125 million.
Randstad considers the facility as an insurance policy to be able to strengthen the balance sheet if needed. Randstad is entitled to activate the facility, which runs for at least 18 months, at any time.
“The aim is not to use the securitization,” a spokesperson at Randstad said. “ We have a large debt facility and we see the securitization as an insurance policy in case we come to close to breaching the covenant of our existing debt facility the we would have the option of using the securitization. It is just an additional level of protection.”
However, the spokesperson said that if the current climate persisted and continued to move along according to the business plan, it was unlikely that the securitization facility would be tapped.
“We are currently borrowing at less than 2% of our total debt and compared to that securitization would be a very expensive option,” the spokesperson added.
