The Grafton Group is raising millions of pounds through an alternative form of financing.

The parent company of Selco, Buildbase, Plumbase and Leyland SDM is raising £144 million in the US to pay off its euro-denominated bank debt.

It will do this next month through issuing unsecured bonds in the US, with ten and 12-year maturities, which is when the debt must be repaid to the investor and interest payments stop. The bonds have an annual interest payment of 2.5%.

In 2017, Grafton had a net debt of £56.3 million, down from £86.2 million the year before.

Its revenues reached £2.4 billion, which was a 9% increase on the previous year.

the move is not expected to affect merchants.