Fressnapf wants to renew itself from the inside out

Fressnapf announces a strategic reorganisation of its German headquarters in Krefeld into an international support centre. The aim of the reorganisation is to put the company in the best possible position for its European expansion and international growth. In doing so, Fressnapf wants to optimally support the local units in the countries from Krefeld and orientate the company even more strongly towards the individual needs of its customers. Centralised functions are to be reduced and at the same time the activities in the individual countries are to be strengthened. This also includes transferring more responsibility to the regional headquarters and streamlining processes at the Krefeld site. As a result, adjustments were also made to management and team structures and, for example, duplicate structures were equalised. At the same time, individual employment contracts that no longer correspond to the future structures were cancelled by mutual agreement. This should affect less than one per cent of all Fressnapf employees, emphasises the Krefeld-based company.

Peter Pritchard, Interim CEO at Fressnapf, explains: „The key to successful growth lies in being flexible and responding to local market needs. I firmly believe that decisions need to be made locally, as our local teams know their customers best.“ Fressnapf founder and owner Torsten Toeller emphasises: „We want to sustainably strengthen and expand our market position as a pan-European champion. In order to best position ourselves for the future and for accelerated growth, we need to renew ourselves from the inside out. With the reorganisation of the head office, we are now consistently pursuing this path.“ The realignment of Fressnapf's central organisation is part of a strategic transformation of the company in order to gain further market share in Europe both organically and through future M&A activities. The company has recently expanded its European presence through strategic acquisitions, including the Jumper Groep in the Netherlands and the upcoming acquisition of Arcaplanet in Italy.

For the acquisition of Arcaplanet and to refinance existing liabilities, Fressnapf decided in favour of capital market-oriented financing for the first time and successfully placed a senior unsecured bond in the amount of 800 mio euros with a term of seven years at the end of October - despite the recent highly competitive market environment. Due to strong investor demand, which led to the order book being several times oversubscribed, the final coupon was set at 5.25 per cent. The new financing also includes a revolving credit line totalling 300 mio euros.