Goodfood has raised $30 million from Canadian financial institutions — including Desjardins and National Bank — to roll out its network of “micro-distribution centers” for meals and groceries.
On December 6, the Montreal company announced the launch of a fast delivery service, which would be done in less than 30 minutes, in the central districts of Montreal as well as the establishment of a delivery service for alcohol in Toronto, thus confirming its desire to diversify its activities.
In a prospectus filed Friday, Goodfood advises Canadian securities regulators that it has sold 30 million unsecured convertible debentures to ten Canadian financial institutions.
Debentures are negotiable securities — resembling bonds — that allow the companies that issue them to raise funds for long-term activities.
In Goodfood’s balance sheet, these will be recorded as a debt and the company undertakes to repay them by the end of March 2027 at an annual interest rate of 5.75%.
Goodfood will use the proceeds from this sale to expand its meal and grocery network “through the signing of several leases for additional new micro-distribution centers, and the financing of capital expenditures , start-up costs and fees associated with these micro-centers,” read the filings.
The start-up of a microcentre costs around 1.5 million, estimates the company, which plans, in 2022, to add 12 new ones to the 8 initially announced. These should see the light of day in the Greater Toronto and Montreal areas, but also in Ottawa and “other urban centers with high population density”.
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