| |
GfK Gets Finance, Debuts Home Shopping Service
GfK has announced that, with the integration of NOP World running well and reduced net debt, it has arranged syndicated credit facilities of EUR 430 million and US$ 170 million. The Group has also launched a home shopping tracker, covering orders made through the Internet, digital TV, mail order and the post.
The facilities replace the outstanding balance of loans taken up during the course of the NOP World acquisition and are also available to the GfK Group for 'general corporate use'. The transaction was arranged by Mandated Lead Arrangers, Barclays Capital, Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank AG and Dresdner Kleinwort. Syndication was primarily targeted at GfK's existing relationship banks and closed oversubscribed.
The new Home Shopping tracker will use a panel of 15,000 UK households and will cover a broad range of goods, including beauty and healthcare, clothing and footwear, entertainment, financial products, food and drink, household goods and travel. Data collected includes customer demographics, spend and retailer loyalty, with trend data available once the service is established.
The Group is online at www.gfk.com .
|
