Stockholm (NordSIP) – On September 30th, Oatly Group AB, a Swedish manufacturer of plant-based dairy substitutes, announced that it had started to take the steps necessary to restructure its outstanding debt. This process would involve the issuance of new bonds as well as entering into new sustainability-linked loan (SLL).
Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Malmö, Oatly was first listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021. The company is considered to be a pioneer in the vegan food industry and was recognised as the Sustainable Food Innovator of the Year by Evergreen Awards in 2020, which noted Oatly’s “dedication to creating products that resonate with consumers on a personal and ethical level. The company’s transparency about its environmental impact and its engaging, approachable brand voice have earned it a loyal and growing customer base.”
However, Oatly has struggled to find its way to profitability and has had to make significant adjustments to its plans and goals over the last five years.
Oatly has Grown But Struggled with Profitability
According to Oatly‘s financial reports, since the second quarter of 2021, it has struggled to keep costs down or significantly increase revenue. As a result, it has not been able to report a profitable quarter since its 2021 IPO. In the last quarter of 2024, it also faced non-cash asset impairment charges due to the discontinued construction of certain production facilities in the USA worth US$204.3 million.
For most of the quarters since the IPO, the company struggled to consistently increase its EBITDA. However, it has had some success on this front over the last eighteen months, bringing up these measure of earnings from negative US$54.7 million at the end of the third quarter of 2023 to negative US$15.4 million at the end of March 2024 and negative US$9.8 million at the end of the second quarter of 2025. Having failed to meet its original goals of profitability by the end of 2023 and by a subsequent 2024 deadline, the company is now hoping to achieve this by the end of 2025.
The debt situation has also been difficult. At the end of the first quarter of 2023, the company announced it would take on financing commitments of US$425 million. The amount was divided in two parts. The first was a set of US$300 million privately negotiated agreements for Convertible Senior PIK Notes due 2028. Another US$125 million worth of term loan B credit facility commitment was entered into. By the third quarter of 2023, Oatly reported an outstanding debt of US$407 million up from from US$125.5 million the previous quarter, a problem that its lack of profits has not helped contain. As of the end of the second quarter of 2025, Oatly’s outstanding debt was worth US$449 million.
Oatly’s Debt Restructure
Now Oatly has returned to the markets with a debt restructure, which includes a new SLL worth SEK 750 million, in the form of a super senior revolving credit facility agreement. Another SEK 1,700 million was issued via senior secured floating rate bonds. In addition to this, Oatly also expressed its intention to repurchase certain US other fixed income securities.
“These transactions represent yet another step forward in our company’s transformation journey. They strengthen our financial foundation by reducing our total outstanding debt, lowering costs related to the remaining outstanding debt, improving the terms of our capital structure, as well as reducing the dilution impact of our convertible notes. We have done all this while not raising additional financing and our business plan remaining fully funded,” Marie-José David, Oatly’s CFO, commented
The proceeds from the Nordic Bonds will initially fund into an escrow account and are intended to be released to the Company on or around October 3, 2025, subject to customary conditions. The new senior revolving credit facility is intended to become effective thereafter, subject to prepayment in full of the group’s existing $130 million term loan B credit facility (the “TLB”) and customary conditions. Oatly intends to use the net proceeds from the Nordic Bonds to prepay the TLB in full, to repurchase and cancel certain of its U.S. Notes as further described below and to pay related transaction costs.
Oatly’s use of an SLL is not unusual. This is a standard credit tool at this stage. It has been used by Husqvarna, Telia and Tele2 in 2022; Nokian Tyres, Elekta and ENI in 2023; Volvo in 2024 and Swecco earlier this year.
The debt restructure is to take shape in several ways.
