Lindblad Expeditions has reached an agreement with its export credit agency (ECA) lenders to amend its loan facilities.
The ECA members are Garantiinstituttet for eksportkreditt and Eksportkreditt Norge, which represent the Norwegian government, and Citibank, London Branch.
This amendment is related to the new expedition cruise ships ‘National Geographic Endurance’ and ‘Resolution’ and the senior secured credit agreement dated 8th January, 2018 for up to $107,694,892 in respect of the acquisition of Hull No. 312 and first amendment relating to the credit agreement dated 8th April, 2019 for up to $122,840,000 in respect of the acquisition of Hull No. 316.
The primary elements of the amendments include:
- Deferral of scheduled amortisation payments for four quarters from June, 2020 through March, 2021 in the aggregate amount of $8.97 mill. This deferred tranche will have the same interest rate as the main ECA facility and will amortise quarterly over four years starting in June, 2021.
- Effective suspension of the total net leverage ratio covenant from June, 2020 through June, 2021.
- Inclusion of a quarterly minimum liquidity covenant that requires a minimum of $30 mill of total consolidated cash, including restricted cash. Failure to meet this covenant will not be an event of default, but will cancel any unused deferred tranche capacity.
- The amendments provide the same terms other than that the 316 amendment does not provide for a deferred tranche as no amortisation payments are due until delivery of the vessel, currently scheduled for 2021.
