SGS Group has completed a refinancing deal which includes £445m of new senior financing from Lloyds Bank.
The refinancing comprises a £395m senior term loan and a £50m capex facility. The senior term loan, which has an initial maturity in 2028 and can then be extended by up to a year, is fully drawn and has been used alongside available cash to repay £444m to existing creditors. The residual £1.3bn of SGS debt not repaid from the transaction has been exchanged into equity or equity-like equivalents within the structure.
As part of the deal, a new SGS board will be appointed with Jaap Tonckens, former group CFO of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, as non-executive chairman, and Peter Williams, Jon Lurie and Anders Hemmingsen as non-executive board members.
SGS, which is the owner of four major UK shopping and leisure destinations – Lakeside, Atria Watford, Victoria Centre (Nottingham) and Braehead, near Glasgow – separated from Intu Properties when the landlord entered into administration in 2020, with AlixPartners appointed in an executive management and board role, Global Mutual acting as asset manager and Savills as property manager.
SGS was supported on the board restructuring and finance deal by AlixPartners, Global Mutual, Savills, Linklaters, PwC, Rothschild & Co, Moelis and Kirkland & Ellis. Lloyds Bank was advised by Herbert Smith Freehills.
