Allegiant Travel Company (ALGT) ("Allegiant" or the "Company") today announced the closing of the amended agreement of its existing term loan (the "Term Loan") with Barclays Bank PLC as administrative agent. Barclays Bank PLC, Goldman Sachs Lending Partners LLC and Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank served as lead arrangers, bookrunners and syndication agents for the transaction. The amendment effects a repricing and upsizing of the Term Loan.
With the repricing, the Company has achieved a highly beneficial interest rate reduction of 150 basis points, as the interest rate based on the London Interbank Offered Rate has been reduced to LIBOR + 3.0 percent. The Company estimates this will reduce interest expense on the initial loan balance by approximately $6.7 million per year.
In addition, due to strong demand, the Company has opportunistically increased its borrowings under the Term Loan by $100.0 million to $545.5 million. The loan increase was issued at par. The proceeds from the loan increase will be used to repay other debt, to pay transaction costs, and for general corporate purposes.
Except for an increase in the required quarterly principal payment to $1.4 million per quarter associated with the larger principal balance, the Term Loan will otherwise continue substantially in accordance with its current terms, including no change to the maturity date of February 2024.
"The opportunity to reprice this loan with a 150 basis point reduction and upsize by an additional $100 million at par would not have been possible without the outstanding performance of our business over the past year," said Greg Anderson, executive vice president and chief financial officer. "Since the original issuance of this facility in February 2019, we have increased EBITDA by 42 percent year-over-year to $520 million. We have also reduced gross total leverage from 3.6x to 2.8x turns since the original marketing of this loan a year ago."
"Lowering our cost of capital also helps to further strengthen our already very strong balance sheet," he continued. "We are committed to continuous improvement of our capital structure."