New financing arrangement for BTT

BTT -under the leadership of Wil Versteijnen, CEO BTT- has managed to increase scale by densifying the network and improving occupancy rates. The increases in scale are accompanied, or have historically been accompanied, by investments such as a new inland terminal and warehouse in Bergen op Zoom, the development in the port of Tilburg ‘Kop van Loven’, the purchase of several properties/locations, railway modifications and intensifying collaborations within the West Brabant Corridor (WBC).

With the company’s growth and desired investment, BTT felt it was an appropriate time to also scrutinise its financing arrangement. Orchard Finance was asked to assist the company in this regard.

About BTT 

The family-owned company is known as a broad specialised logistics service provider. BTT specialises in container transport by rail, barge and road. Focus is thus on efficiency and sustainability.         

With its own barge and rail terminals in Tilburg, Bergen op Zoom and Rzepin (Poland), BTT offers dozens of weekly connections to and from the seaports in Rotterdam and Antwerp. This saves more than 20 million trucking kilometres in the Netherlands every year. Thus, BTT’s multimodal transport solutions contribute to reducing CO₂ emissions and sustainable logistics.

These investments are being made to further strengthen BTT’s unique position and further expand and make the logistics network between Antwerp, Bergen op Zoom, Rotterdam and Tilburg more sustainable. Sustainability is one of the themes BTT has secured in its business strategy.

A structured refinancing process

In view of the investments, BTT went through a structured refinancing process. The central question concerned the choice between expanding financiers (bank and alternative financiers), or everything under one roof with one financier, but with different forms of financing.

Wil Versteijnen, BTT Multimodal Container Solutions, says: “Our business is always evolving, and it is important that our financing structure reflects this. Flexibility is very important to us in this respect. We look back with satisfaction on the financing process, in which Orchard provided us with excellent guidance.”

After a thorough process, we chose various forms of financing (asset-based, (green) loans and working capital financing) at ING Bank in order to achieve i) the best conditions, ii) the most flexibility and iii) an optimal set-up for the family. With the arrangement, BTT can move forward for at least 3-5 years.

Eelco van de Lustgraaf, partner at Orchard, says: “Working for and with family businesses remains a wonderful challenge time and again. There are many different dimensions involved in such an investment, which have to fit well with the various stakeholders. After an extensive preliminary phase and an intensive process with the bank(s), we have a nice arrangement. This also focused on sustainability, which immediately led to a significant interest rate advantage for the entire arrangement.”