Care home operator Orpea skips dividend as it faces major debt repayments

　　div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpReuters – French care home group Orpea, which faces criminal complaints over how it runs its centres and treats its elderly residents, said on Friday it would not pay a dividend on 2021 earnings and announced a financing scheme with its lenders as it faces major debt repayments.

　　The firm said that with access to financial markets being closed off and and a planned asset disposal programme slowing down, it had signed an agreement with its banks for a secured syndicated facility of 1.73 billion euros. pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

　　Orpea is facing major debt repayments, including 850 million euros maturing in the second half of 2022 and 983 million in 2023. In order to reduce debt, it intends to sell more than 3 billion euros worth of assets by end 2025, it said in an earnings statement.

　　Reporting by Diana Mandiá Editing by GV De Clercq

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