Earlier this year, Orora Group became the first Australian client of Bank Mendes Gans when it chose the bank as its global cash management and liquidity service provider.
Orora is a Melbourne-based designer and manufacturer of glass bottles and aluminium cans. Listed on the Australian Securities Exchange with operations spanning Australasia, North America, Europe and the UAE, the company employs more than 4,500 people across 17 production sites in five countries.
Orora Group’s finance function is based out of the company’s Melbourne head office from where it manages global treasury, investor relations, risk and assurance, tax and corporate accounting.
It also has business finance teams supporting its cans and glass businesses, with these teams located across the globe from Mexico and the US, through Europe and back to Australasia.
“Historically, Orora managed its cash and debt in a relatively decentralised manner, requiring frequent manual, complex and costly FX transactions to manage the group’s liquidity across its global footprint,” explains Chief Financial Officer, Shaun Hughes.
So why did the company decide to use Bank Mendes Gans’ global cash pooling solution – and did it consider other solutions?
“With the €1.3bn acquisition of Saverglass in 2023 – a French-based global manufacturer specialising in high end glass bottles – we needed better tools and more timely visibility of cash throughout the group,” says Hughes. “The Bank Mendes Gans cash pooling solution was originally developed as a corporate treasury tool and so it offers a multi-entity, multi-currency notional cash pool designed by treasurers for treasurers.”
He adds that after a robust market review, Orora found this solution stood out from other options available and could see tangible benefits from quickly implementing it.
“It represents not just a technical upgrade of our systems but a step change in functionality with real-time cash visibility and seamless access to internal liquidity tools,” says Hughes. “The platform also works in all our functional currencies and countries in which we operate.”
The project was implemented within six months with no disruption to the treasury operations during this period. With subsidiaries maintaining their existing local bank accounts, there was no impact to either customers or suppliers.
Each operating entity needed to establish a Bank Mendes Gans account in their country of operation and Hughes says the bank made this seamless with a dedicated implementation team to support and accelerate the process.
The improved cash management resulting from the implementation benefits Orora’s customers in a number of ways. For example, the system offers around the clock, 24/7 visibility, which allows both the group and its subsidiaries to monitor their liquidity status in real-time.
“With improved transparency of where our cash is, we have been able to streamline our cash management policies and practices, using our cash more effectively and removing work from the local operating entities – enabling them to spend more time on servicing our customers,” observes Hughes.
