American Queen Voyages, a number one U.S. river cruise firm, is shutting down operations as father or mother Hornblower Group proclaims a deal to cut back debt.
Hornblower Group has introduced a major funding settlement with Strategic Worth Companions, LLC, a world different funding agency. The deal will see Strategic Worth Companions (SVP) purchase majority possession of Hornblower and supply a considerable fairness funding to assist strengthening the corporate’s financials.
Crestview Companions will preserve a substantial minority stake in Hornblower and grow to be the only real proprietor of Journey Past, a number one experiential journey supplier in Australia underneath Hornblower’s umbrella.
The settlement, which additionally contains $121 million in new-money financing from SVP-managed funds and Crestview, will cut back the corporate’s complete debt by roughly $720 million.
As a part of the settlement, Hornblower’s underperforming in a single day cruising enterprise, American Queen Voyages (AQV), will both be bought or its operations wound down. A press release posted to the AQV web site mentioned the corporate has ceased operations and is issuing refunds on passenger deposits.
“Regardless of nice efforts by our staff, crew and companions, American Queen Voyages (AQV) sadly has been unable to rebound from the results of the pandemic. The in a single day cruise business was particularly affected by adjustments in journey preferences and, consequently, AQV has grow to be financially unsustainable,” American Queen Voyages mentioned. “We’re due to this fact shutting down the enterprise, and all future AQV cruises have been cancelled.”
Hornblower Group CEO, Kevin Rabbitt, states that the sale will enable the corporate to give attention to its core land-based and water-based experiences companies, that are yielding glorious outcomes. “The steps we’re taking immediately will allow us to handle AQV and strengthen our monetary basis as we proceed serving our company and commuters all over the world,” Rabbitt mentioned.
Hornblower has assured that outdoors of American Queen Voyages, its present providers won’t be affected by the transaction. All providers, booked journeys, excursions, and different choices are set to proceed as deliberate.
To facilitate the settlement and the sale or winding down of American Queen Voyages, Hornblower and a few of its associates have initiated a voluntary court-supervised course of underneath Chapter 11 of the U.S. Chapter Code.
That is anticipated to final about 4 months, backed by a $300 million dedication from Deutsche Financial institution Non-public Credit score & Infrastructure to refinance the Firm’s present superpriority time period mortgage, along with the $121 million in new-money financing from SVP-managed funds and Crestview.
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