Leading Kent accountancy firm Horwath Clark Whitehill (HCW) has played a key role in the £40million refinancing deal of sugar and confectionary group Real Good Food plc.

Real Good Food is an AIM listed business with annual revenues in excess of £200million and more than 600 employees in offices and factories across the UK. It provides sugar and bakery ingredients to the UK retail and food services markets through its trading businesses Napier Brown, Renshaws and Haydens Bakeries.

The refinancing, which comes from KBC Business Capital, the specialist asset-based lending division of Belgium banking group KBC Bank NV, will allow Real Good Food to further develop the Renshaws business with new product ranges. It will also help the company provide a flexible structure ahead of new European Union rules governing sugar.

HCW, which has Kent offices in Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone, introduced KBC to the deal and led the transaction support. Partner Geert Struyven said: “We have had a long-standing client relationship with Real Good Food and it was very satisfying to see KBC completing the deal given the turmoil in the financial markets.

“This deal illustrates that despite the credit crunch, there is still an appetite from lenders, such as KBC, to back successful businesses with strong management.”

Geert Struyven can be contacted on 01622 767676 or by e-mail on geert.struyven@horwath.co.uk