Six Flags names possible banks for $830 million loans

[29yrswithaGApass]

Source: Asbury Park Press

 

Six Flags names possible banks for $830 million loansBLOOMBERG NEWS SERVICE • January 7, 2010

 

Six Flags Inc., the New York-based theme-park owner of Great Adventure in Jackson and other amusement parks across the nation, has approached JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Barclays Capital and Deutsche Bank AG to arrange an $830 million senior secured credit facility to finance its exit from bankruptcy.

 

The loans will include a $150 million five-year revolving credit facility and a $680 million six-year term loan, the company said today in a regulatory filing. The reorganization plan also includes a $150 million financing commitment from Time Warner Inc., Six Flags said.

 

 

Six Flags, which operates 20 theme parks in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, sought U.S. Bankruptcy Court protection from creditors on June 13, listing assets of $3 billion and debt of $2.4 billion as of Dec. 31, 2008. Thirty-six affiliates also sought protection.

 

The expected interest rate on both the revolver and the term loan is 4.25 percentage points more than the London interbank offered rate, with a 2 percent Libor floor, according to the filing. The revolver has a 150 basis point unused fee. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

 

The term loan will be offered at a discount of 99 cents on the dollar, according to a person familiar with the transaction who declined to be identified because the terms aren’t set.

 

Proceeds from the term loan will be used to repay the $1.15 billion pre-petition bank debt in cash when the reorganization plan is completed and Six Flags exits bankruptcy, the company said in the filing. Proceeds from the revolver will be used for general corporate purposes.

Moody's rating

Confirmation of the proposed plan is expected in March with the company exiting bankruptcy shortly afterwards, Six Flags said in the filing. Chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy code allows companies protection from creditors while they work out a plan of reorganization.

 

Yesterday, Moody’s Investors Service assigned the proposed credit facility a B1 rating, which is four levels below investment grade. Moody’s said that the management team at Six Flags has “made progress in making the parks more family- friendly and generating incremental revenue from licensing and sponsorships.”

 

The lead case is In re Premier International Holdings Inc., 09-12019, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).

[Xander]

well looks like they have big plans for the future, possibly 2011. Wiki says Six Flags Corp. owns 21 properties, and so long as the money goes directly to the parks (which I know probably won't happen) that gives each park $39,523,809.50. That would be nice.

[gate6_natzi]

well looks like they have big plans for the future, possibly 2011. Wiki says Six Flags Corp. owns 21 properties, and so long as the money goes directly to the parks (which I know probably won't happen) that gives each park $39,523,809.50. That would be nice.

 

 

Not a bad thought, one thing do you really see say SFKK getting nearly the same amount of cash as say GA? From a business standpoint, it just makes little to no sense.

[Mike13]

2011 has a budget of $110 Million for new stuff.A very small portion of that loan will go towards additions.

[Xander]

I would hope that the budgets wouldn't be the same for each park, I was just trying to see for myself the approx. budget since everyone on the forums is expecting huge plans for 2011. And what do you mean Mike13? Six Flags Corp has that budget or Great Adventure alone? If that's for all of Six Flags, that significantly lowers the budget...(5,238,095.24)<h2 class="r" style="font-size: 138%;">

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[Mike13]

Six Flags as a company for all the parks.So with $110 million they are using that for a new "attraction" in every park.

 

I wish Great Adventure alone had that budget lol,hello Spiderman or Mummy rides!

[GAcoaster]

Most likely the 2011 "new" investments will be made like they usually are, with capex fund being split proportionally to the potential return on investment. It wouldn't make a lot of sense to spend the same amount on attractions for a park like SFKK as they do for parks like SFGAdv/SFOG/SFMM/SFGAm where they can easily make the investment back. That was part of the downfall of the previous management was spending tons of money on rinkydink parks when they could never make that investment back.

 

I think we'll be seeing the "big" parks sending hand-me-downs to the smaller parks, with the big ones getting the real marquis new attractions. The only one we know for sure right now and can count out on is Chang going to SFGAm (unless the plans change again) which makes sense because it was just too big a ride for a park like KK, while their current standup could easily be relocated to one of the smaller parks (SFNE/SFDK/SFFT/SFA) where it can be a standout "new'' attraction.

 

It will be so nice when the bankruptcy proceedings are done and they can concentrate on getting down to business and growing again without that huge burden of debt.

[Thunderbolt]

Chang was purchased prior to Premier Parks acquiring Kentucky Kingdom. I do agree with the "flagging" debacle being a large part of PKS's downfall however. I'd still be looking to offload the non-TWX parks post bankruptcy. Discovery Kingdom might be an exception.