Dutch transaction - GO government guarantee
February 01, 2023
by a searcher from INSEAD in London, UK
Signed an LOI on a Dutch distribution business late last year.
The company does 30M revenue, 2.5M EBITDA.
Now looking into bank financing for 50% of the enterprise value.
None of the traditional Dutch banks propose to make use of the GO 50% government guarantee scheme. Instead they all opt for the MBKB guarantee that requires to provide a personal guarantee to the amount of 25% of the outstanding amount.
Does anyone have experience in this field ? Knows how to convince banks to drop the personal guarantee ?
from INSEAD in Bussum, Nederland
As you know, there are two systems under which the state is willing to provide guarantees, the GO and the BMKB. Under the GO the state will guarantee up to 50% and under the BMKB the state will guarantee up to 90%. I learned that under the scheme it is a legal obligation of the lenders to require a personal guarantee so that in the event of default some of the 90% is offset. I am not sure how it is under the GO scheme, but similar I would presume. So the bad news is that there is no way around the personal guarantee. In that respect very interested in Robin's experience (are these loans provided under the aforementioned schemes?)
As for a solution: there are alternative lenders out there (e.g. private debts funds) that do not require a personal guarantee, but this will impact interest rates (8-9% I have been told, not verified). My debt colleague has a contact that operates in this segment, happy to chase for the contact if you are keen.
in Zwolle, Nederland
^redacted, times are different, but we got lending without the guarantees. I have some good contacts, both in banks and around, can reach out if you want.
In the end, many local banks have to reach out to their supervisors, it helps to start there instead of on the standard track, but maybe you have already done that
You can reach me best at Robin @ autismehuis . nl
Wishing you all a good day,
Robin