42 5.4 Solid financing 5.4 Solid financing MEGGLE‘s definition of solid financing is to ensure that the ratio of equity capital, reserves and external financing is balanced. We therefore secure our corporate planning, not only with equity capital, but also with solid financing models that are stable enough to ride out even difficult economic situations. In particular, this involves long-term borrowing at fair conditions, by means of promissory notes, for example. Safety first In addition to bank loans and bonds, promissory notes are a further form of long-term borrowing. In this case, institutional investors act as creditors and grant a borrower a loan without the borrower having to avail him or herself of the organised capital market and the associated risks. On 19th February 2014, MEGGLE AG signed a promissory note to finance future investments by the entire MEGGLE Group. The loan volume totals 65 million euros, with a term of seven and ten years. The loan was arranged by UniCredit Bank, an institutional inves- tor in Munich. During the subscription phase, the excellent reputation that MEGGLE enjoys as a profitable and solidly financed company be- came apparent, because the promissory note was, despite the excellent conditions in favour of our company, clearly oversubscribed. There was an excess of interested investors. Borrowing using promissory notes From left to right: Christian Sedlatschek − Chief financial officer (CFO) Drs. Sil H. van der Ploeg MBA − Chairman of the Board (CEO) Georg Schillmaier − Head of Treasury 425.4 Solid financing