British Columbia-based Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Limited has completed a refinancing of its existing credit facilities. The new facility includes a US$335m senior secured term loan facility and a C$150m senior secured revolving credit facility (of which US$25 million may be denominated in US Dollars). As previously announced, the new senior secured credit facility was increased by US$30m from its original target as a result of strong investor demand.
The proceeds will be used to refinance the remaining commitments and loans under Gateway’s existing senior secured credit facility after giving effect to the repayment of the existing loans using the proceeds of the company’s recently consummated sale-leaseback transaction.
It will also trigger a return of capital, dividend or other similar distribution of approximately US$100m, fund general corporate purposes (including capital expenditures), and repay in full the mortgage on the Cascades Casino Langley.
CEO Tony Santo commented: “Following the sale leaseback of three properties in Vancouver and the successful completion of a broad debt refinancing, Gateway is well positioned to invest in its operations and growth. Gateway has become the standard for gaming and hospitality in Canada and we look forward to continuing to build on our leadership position.”
Executive Chairman Gabriel de Alba added: “We are very pleased with the successful refinancing and the ability of our team to identify value creation opportunities and deliver on transactions that can add to the strength of the company. We look forward to continuing to identify new avenues for growth and building on the company’s success across all of our operations.”
The transactions were executed by a syndicate of investment banks led by Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc., and included SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc., BMO Capital Markets Corp., Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Goldman Sachs Lending Partners LLC, Macquarie Capital (USA) Inc., National Bank of Canada, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and ING Capital LLC.
