Funding strategy

As of the reporting date, GEA’s cash credit lines and their utilization are as follows:

^{*GEA added ESG components to its syndicated credit facility of EUR 650 million in April, linking the mechanism for setting the margin to the performance of sustainability indicators. The measurement of sustainability target attainment will be carried out for the first time on the basis of calendar year 2022 and will continue until the end of 2026. The agreed sustainability indicators are based among other factors on the targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the company’s own activities (Scope 1 and 2) as well as the proportion of female managers in the top three management levels.}

The group’s financial management encompasses liquidity management, group financing, and the management of interest rate and currency risks. As the group management company, GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft is responsible for GEA’s central financial management, which aims to reduce financing costs to the extent possible, optimize interest rates for financial investments, minimize counterparty credit risk, leverage economies of scale, hedge interest rate and exchange rate risk exposures as effectively as possible, and ensure compliance with loan covenants. GEA’s financing strategy is designed to not only meet its payment obligations at all times, but also to ensure that sufficient cash reserves are always available in the form of credit lines, in addition to maintaining a strategic cash position. 

Cash flow from operating activities is the most important source of liquidity. Intragroup cash pooling aims to limit external cash investments and borrowings to the lowest level possible. To achieve this, GEA has established cash pooling groups in 17 countries that automatically balance the accounts of the participating group companies every day by crediting or debiting a target account at GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft. Any additional liquidity needs are generally serviced by Group Management, which also invests surplus liquidity. In a number of cases, however, liquidity peaks in individual countries cannot be reduced on a cross-border basis due to legal or tax-related reasons.