As announced on 26 November 2020, gategroup Holding AG, the Group, its shareholders, RRJ Capital and Temasek and all of the Group’s bank lenders under the senior facilities agreement dated 30 November 2018 have agreed to the key terms and conditions of a recapitalisation of the Company and amendment of the terms of the Group’s financial indebtedness to position the Group for a post-COVID future. In order to provide the Group with liquidity to implement the Transaction, a CHF 200 million senior secured interim liquidity facility was entered into with affiliates of the Shareholders on 25 November 2020. The Interim Facility matures in May 2021.
On 11 December 2020, the Company and gategroup Finance (Luxembourg) S.A., as issuer of the CHF 350,000,000 3% bonds due 2022, announced that, in order to implement certain aspects of the Transaction, gategroup Guarantee Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, would propose a restructuring plan under Part 26A of the United Kingdom’s Companies Act 2006 for the purposes of amending certain terms of the Bonds and the SFA.
On the same day, the Plan Company issued a practice statement letter to holders of the Bonds and the Senior Lenders (together with the Bondholders, the “Plan Creditors“) setting out information on the Transaction including details of the process for implementation of the Plan. That process involved a hearing before the High Court of England and Wales for the purposes of seeking permission to convene a meeting of the Plan Creditors for the purposes of voting on and, if thought fit, approving the Plan.
Update on Timetable
The Convening Hearing was, as previously announced, held on 3 and 4 February 2021. The Court will issue its judgment on whether or not to grant the order to convene the Plan Meeting in due course.
If the Court grants permission to convene the Plan Meeting, the Group will provide a further update with a revised timetable of key dates, including the date and time of the Plan Meeting, as well as the date on which the Plan Company expects to circulate meeting materials (including the explanatory statement) to Plan Creditors.
