Americold Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: COLD) (“Americold” or the
“Company”), the world’s largest publicly traded REIT focused on the
ownership, operation, acquisition, and development of
temperature-controlled warehouses, announced today it has extended
and upsized its senior unsecured credit facilities from $1.5
billion to approximately $2.0 billion. The refinance closed on
August 23, 2022. The senior unsecured credit facilities
enhance the Company’s strong liquidity position and extend its
well-staggered debt maturity profile. Additionally, the Company
plans to use a portion of the unsecured credit facilities to
refinance its last significant tranche of secured, CMBS debt, which
matures May 1, 2023, but is prepayable at par beginning November 1,
2022. Americold plans to enter into interest rate swaps
to fix a significant portion of the unsecured credit facilities,
which will maintain pro forma fixed rate total indebtedness in line
with the Company's historical levels. Additionally, the
senior unsecured credit facilities incorporate a
sustainability-linked pricing component, with pricing subject to
adjustment based on an annual GRESB rating.
“We are pleased to further enhance the strength and financial
flexibility of our balance sheet by refinancing our senior
unsecured credit facilities,” said Marc Smernoff, Americold’s Chief
Financial Officer. “We have extended our overall debt duration and
raised unsecured debt to pay off high coupon, secured CMBS debt.
Since going public in 2018, we have been dedicated to pursuing an
unsecured balance sheet structure, and this refinance puts us in
position to repay our last meaningful tranche of secured debt.
Additionally, we are proud to align our corporate commitment to
sustainability with our financing strategy by incorporating a
sustainability-linked pricing component into our senior unsecured
credit facilities’ pricing structure. We greatly appreciate the
support of our banking partners, and their continued confidence in
our strategy and in the strong fundamentals that underpin our
business model.”
The revolving credit facility is comprised of a $575 million
U.S. dollar component and a $575 million U.S. dollar equivalent,
multicurrency component. The revolving credit facility matures in
August 2027, inclusive of two, six-month extension options. Based
on Americold’s current credit ratings, the revolving credit
facility bears interest at 85 basis points over the adjusted SOFR
rate. Based on Americold’s current credit ratings, the revolving
credit facility carries an annual facility fee of 20 basis
points.
The $375 million U.S. dollar term loan A-1 facility, upsized
from $175 million previously, matures in August 2027, inclusive of
two, twelve-month extension options. The Company used the
incremental $200 million of proceeds to repay a portion of the
revolving credit facility’s U.S. dollar balance. Based on
Americold’s current credit ratings, the term loan A-1 facility
bears interest at 95 basis points over the adjusted SOFR rate.
The newly-raised, unfunded $270 million U.S. dollar term loan
delayed draw facility matures in January 2028, and does not have
any extension options. The Company expects to draw and fund the
delayed draw facility on November 1, 2022, to repay the
approximately $266 million of secured, CMBS debt that is prepayable
at par beginning November 1, 2022. The remaining proceeds of the
delayed draw facility will be used for general corporate purposes.
Based on Americold’s current credit ratings, the term loan delayed
draw facility bears interest at 95 basis points over the adjusted
SOFR rate.
The CAD 250 million Canadian term loan A-2 facility matures in
January 2028, and does not have any extension options. Based on
Americold’s current credit ratings, the term loan A-2 facility
bears interest at 95 basis points over the adjusted CDOR rate.
The senior unsecured credit facilities – inclusive of the
revolving credit facility, the term loan A-1 facility, the term
loan delayed draw facility, and the term loan A-2 facility - permit
a reduction in the interest rate upon meeting certain GRESB
ratings.
The Joint Bookrunners for the Senior Unsecured Credit Facilities
are BofA Securities, Inc., JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Citibank,
N.A., and Royal Bank of Canada. BofA Securities, Inc., JPMorgan
Chase Bank, N.A., Citibank, N.A., Royal Bank of Canada,
Cooperatieve Rabobank U.A., New York Branch, and Truist Securities,
Inc. serve as Joint Lead Arrangers. Bank of America, N.A. serves as
Administrative Agent, and BofA Securities, Inc. and Cooperatieve
Rabobank U.A., New York Branch serve as Sustainability Structuring
Agents. JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A., Citibank, N.A., Royal Bank of
Canada, Cooperatieve Rabobank U.A., and Truist Bank serve as
Co-Syndication Agents. Citizens Bank, National Association, Goldman
Sachs Lending Partners LLC, Huntington National Bank, PNC Bank,
National Association, and Regions Bank serve as Co-Documentation
Agents. Morgan Stanley Bank, N.A., AgCountry Farm Credit Services,
FLCA, Compeer Financial PCA, HSBC Bank USA, N.A., and Raymond James
Bank, N.A. also participated in the Facilities.
About the Company
Americold is the world’s largest publicly traded REIT focused on
the ownership, operation, acquisition and development of
temperature-controlled warehouses. Based in Atlanta, Georgia,
Americold owns and operates 249 temperature-controlled warehouses,
with approximately 1.5 billion refrigerated cubic feet of storage,
in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and South America.
Americold’s facilities are an integral component of the supply
chain connecting food producers, processors, distributors and
retailers to consumers.
Forward-Looking Statements
This document contains statements about future events and
expectations that constitute forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are based on our beliefs, assumptions
and expectations of our future financial and operating performance
and growth plans, taking into account the information currently
available to us. These statements are not statements of historical
fact. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties
that may cause our actual results to differ materially from the
expectations of future results we express or imply in any
forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance
on such statements. Factors that could contribute to these
differences include the following: the impact of supply chain
disruptions, including, among others, the impact on labor
availability, raw material availability, manufacturing and food
production; construction materials and transportation;
uncertainties and risks related to public health crises, including
the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; adverse economic or real estate
developments in our geographic markets or the
temperature-controlled warehouse industry; rising interest rates
and inflation in operating costs, including as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic; general economic conditions; labor and power
costs; labor shortages; risks associated with the ownership of real
estate generally and temperature-controlled warehouses in
particular; acquisition risks, including the failure to identify or
complete attractive acquisitions or the failure of acquisitions to
perform in accordance with projections and to realize anticipated
cost savings and revenue improvements; our failure to realize the
intended benefits from our recent acquisitions, and including
synergies, or disruptions to our plans and operations or unknown or
contingent liabilities related to our recent acquisitions; risks
related to expansions of existing properties and developments of
new properties, including failure to meet targeted completion dates
and budgeted or stabilized returns within expected time frames, or
at all, in respect thereof; a failure of our information technology
systems, systems conversions and integrations, cybersecurity
attacks or a breach of our information security systems, networks
or processes could cause business disruptions or loss of
confidential information; risks related to privacy and data
security concerns, and data collection and transfer restrictions
and related foreign regulations; defaults or non-renewals of
significant customer contracts, including as a result of the
ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; uncertainty of revenues, given the
nature of our customer contracts; our failure to obtain necessary
outside financing; risks related to, or restrictions contained in,
our debt financings; decreased storage rates or increased vacancy
rates; risks related to current and potential international
operations and properties; difficulties in expanding our operations
into new markets, including international markets; risks related to
the partial ownership of properties, including as a result of our
lack of control over such investments and the failure of such
entities to perform in accordance with projections; our failure to
maintain our status as a REIT; possible environmental liabilities,
including costs, fines or penalties that may be incurred due to
necessary remediation of contamination of properties presently or
previously owned by us; financial market fluctuations; actions by
our competitors and their increasing ability to compete with us;
changes in applicable governmental regulations and tax legislation,
including in the international markets; geopolitical conflicts,
such as the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine; additional
risks with respect to the addition of European operations and
properties; changes in real estate and zoning laws and increases in
real property tax rates; our relationship with our associates,
including the occurrence of any work stoppages or any disputes
under our collective bargaining agreements and employment related
litigation; liabilities as a result of our participation in
multi-employer pension plans; uninsured losses or losses in excess
of our insurance coverage; the potential liabilities, costs and
regulatory impacts associated with our in-house trucking services
and the potential disruptions associated with our use of
third-party trucking service providers to provide transportation
services to our customers; the cost and time requirements as a
result of our operation as a publicly traded REIT; changes in
foreign currency exchange rates; the impact of anti-takeover
provisions in our constituent documents and under Maryland law,
which could make an acquisition of us more difficult, limit
attempts by our stockholders to replace our directors and affect
the price of our common stock, $0.01 par value per share, of our
common stock; and the potential dilutive effect of our common stock
offerings.
Words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “continues,”
“estimates,” “expects,” “goal,” “objectives,” “intends,” “may,”
“opportunity,” “plans,” “potential,” “near-term,” “long-term,”
“projections,” “assumptions,” “projects,” “guidance,” “forecasts,”
“outlook,” “target,” “trends,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “will”
and similar expressions are intended to identify such
forward-looking statements. Examples of forward-looking statements
included in this document include, among others, statements about
our plans and expectations regarding refinancing our CMBS debt, use
of proceeds and hedging strategies, including entering into
interest rate swaps to reduce floating rate debt exposure to
historical levels. We qualify any forward-looking statements
entirely by these cautionary factors. Other risks, uncertainties
and factors, including those discussed under “Risk Factors” in our
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 and
in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March
31, 2022, could cause our actual results to differ materially from
those projected in any forward-looking statements we make. We
assume no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking
statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results
could differ materially from those anticipated in these
forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes
available in the future.
Contacts:
Americold Realty TrustInvestor RelationsTelephone:
678-459-1959Email: investor.relations@americold.com
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