-Eliminates All Debt Maturities Until Mid-2011-
Great Wolf Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ: WOLF), North America’s leading family
of indoor waterpark resorts, today announced that it has eliminated all
of its debt maturities until mid-2011 with the completed extensions of
the maturity dates to July 1, 2011 for the company’s mortgage loans on
its Mason, Ohio and Grapevine, Texas resort properties.
“We have significantly strengthened our capital structure with the
completion of these loan extensions. This is an important step in
increasing our financial flexibility and importantly leaves Great Wolf
Resorts with no debt maturities until mid-2011,” said Kimberly Schaefer,
chief executive officer.
The extended Grapevine loan will now bear interest at a rate of LIBOR
plus 400 basis points, with a minimum rate of 7.00 percent per annum.
The extended Mason loan will continue to bear interest at a rate of
LIBOR plus 425 basis points, with a minimum rate of 6.50 percent per
annum. In addition, the company has provided the Mason mortgage loan
lenders with a $30.0 million corporate guaranty and
cross-collateralization on the company’s Grapevine resort property. The
corporate guaranty and cross-collateralization on the Grapevine property
will remain in place until the company makes a $30.0 million principal
reduction of the Mason loan over the remaining term of the loan. The
company will be required to use 50% of the net proceeds should there be
certain liquidity-producing events, including the sale of majority-owned
equity interest in any of the company’s existing properties or the
refinance of a mortgage loan on an existing property, toward the $30.0
million mandatory principal reduction.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the federal securities laws. All statements, other than
statements of historical facts, including, among others, statements
regarding Great Wolf Resorts' future financial position, business
strategy, projected levels of growth, projected costs and projected
performance and financing needs, are forward-looking statements. Those
statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current
expectations of Great Wolf Resorts, Inc. and members of its management
team, as well as the assumptions on which such statements are based, and
generally are identified by the use of words such as “may,” “will,”
“seeks,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “plans,”
“intends,” “should” or similar expressions.
