Regal Owner Cineworld Group Secures Lifeline With $450 Million Debt Facility

Beleaguered Regal cinema chain operator Cineworld Group has found a lifeline by securing a new debt facility of $450 million and the issue of equity warrants.

The company has agreed bank covenant waivers until June 2022 and has extended the maturity of its $111 million incremental revolving credit facility from Dec. 2020 to May 2024.

“The measures we are announcing today deliver over $750 million of extra liquidity to support our business,” Mooky Greidinger, CEO of Cineworld, said. “Over the long term, the operational improvements we have put in place since the start of the pandemic will further enhance Cineworld’s profitability and resilience. The Group continues to monitor developments in the relevant markets in which we operate and our entire team is focused on managing our cost base. We look forward to resuming our operations and welcoming movie fans around the world back to the big screen for an exciting and full slate of films in 2021.”

The group will now have aggregate gross debt financing of $4.9 billion with a weighted average interest rate of approximately 4.5%. The new arrangements entitles lenders to appoint a board observer.

Alongside its new debt facility, the group will issue to participating lenders 153,539,786 equity warrants representing in aggregate 9.99% of the fully diluted ordinary share capital of the company, assuming full exercise of the warrants.

“In light of the severe financial challenges facing the group arising from the significant disruption to the entire industry, the board is confident this additional liquidity will preserve and maximize shareholder value over the long term,” said Alicja Kornasiewicz, chair of Cineworld Group.

The company had shut all its sites in the U.S. and U.K. following the postponement of James Bond title “No Time To Die” to Easter 2021.

It emerged last week that Cineworld was considering insolvency measures in the U.K., including permanently closing some sites.