Deals

Completion Date
June 2010

Transaction Type
Debt Restructure

Transaction Value
(Not disclosed)

Lead Partner
Phil Seefried
Telephone +1 (303) 572 6000

Background
Headwaters negotiated a fully underwritten commitment with a new lead bank to fill the need of Aurora Organic.

What Difference Did We Make?
The company has always had difficulty with debt financing given its uniqueness in the dairy industry - fully integrated producer with the nation's largest herd of organic cows. Traditional agribusiness banks use structures that create very low advance rates and high volatility of availability as collateral values change frequently. The company needed a custom solution that financed it based on cash flow as opposed to traditional advance rates. Headwaters negotiated a fully underwritten commitment with a new lead bank to fill this need. "Underwritten club deals" are very unusual but we advised the company to take this approach in order to validate the structure before it went to market. We negotiated very tight "flex" language along with favorable pricing and other terms that met the company's needs going forward.