Pharmacy Daily | Corum refinances $4m loan

PUBLICLY listed pharmacy software supplier Corum Group has tapped its major shareholder for a loan of $4 million, at a hefty 15% interest rate which will cost the firm $50,000 a month to service. The new facility will enable Corum to repay money owed to Westpac, which a few months ago told Corum it was withdrawing its credit facilities due to breaching of loan covenants (PD 19 Jan). More than 2300 community pharmacies across Australia - or about 45% of the market - manage their dispensing and point of sale operations using Corum products which include the Amfac and Pharmasol LOTS systems. The company’s 58% shareholder, Lujeta Pty Ltd, offered the financial lifeline and Corum directors resolved to accept the loan facility after independent advice from David Hegarty, a partner at accounting firm Walter Turnbull that “the finance proposal offered by Lujeta Pty Limited is fair and reasonable, and should be considered most favourably”. Lujeta will also receive a $100,000 “application fee,” with the loan’s initial term being four years and Corum retaining the right to repay all or part of the loan earlier without penalty. The 15% interest rate applies while the loan is unsecured, and will reduce to 12% per annum if it is secured against Corum assets. However the decision about whether to offer security for the loan will be made by shareholders, at a specially convened General Meeting, the company said. The initial $50,000 in interest must be paid each month, and if not a late payment penalty of 0.2% per month will apply, while each quarter a minimum of $200,000 of the principal must be repaid.

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