A final call for applications to the €100 million Glanbia MilkFlex Fund has been issued by Glanbia Co-operative Society and it partners.
The final closing date for applications has been set as February 28 of this year. To date, loan applications with a value of €95 million have been received.
Glanbia, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, Rabobank and Finance Ireland recently announced their decision to extend the closing date for applications to the fund – which has been on the market since May 2016.
The purpose of the fund is to provide Glanbia milk suppliers in the Republic of Ireland with an “innovative funding product to support investment in on-farm productive assets”; these include livestock, milking platform infrastructure and land improvement, according to the co-op.
The average value of MilkFlex loans drawn from the fund is approximately €100,000 to date, it added.
Commenting on the final call for applications to the fund, Glanbia Co-op chairman Henry Corbally said: “We are now entering the final weeks for our milk suppliers to apply to the Glanbia Milkflex Fund.
We are very pleased with the feedback that we have received to date from our supplier base and we would like to highlight the closing date for applications and encourage any suppliers who may be interested in applying to the Fund to get in touch with Finance Ireland before February 28.
Last November, the fund received an award at the 2017 European Awards for Co-operative Innovation held in Brussels.
Glanbia was presented with the COGECA Business Model Innovation Award for introducing the Glanbia MilkFlex Fund which offers “flexible, competitively-priced loans” to Glanbia milk suppliers – with loan repayments which vary according to seasonality and movements in milk price.
Further information regarding the fund can be obtained by phoning the Finance Ireland Agri Team on: 01-6470255; alternatively, a person can sen an email to: [email protected].
Upon receipt of an enquiry, Finance Ireland will contact the farmer to organise a farm visit to assess their requirements and evaluate all relevant documentation.