GE Commercial Finance, Corporate Lending swooped in with a new credit proposal for The Bombay Company as the company was in the process of talking with existing lead Wells Fargo and landed the sole lead on a new five-year, $125 million revolving credit facility. Bombay had been in talks with Wells Fargo about an amendment to its existing $135 million facility.
"There was a lot of activity," Sean Bogue, v.p. of financial planning and analysis, said of the time the company was talking with Wells. "There was a buzz in the circles," he added, suggesting that GE approached Bombay after the bank had heard about the talk of an amendment to the previous facility.
The new facility is secured by inventory, receivables, an office building and other company assets. "It provided more flexibility, more liquidity for the underlying collateral" than the previous facility, said Elaine Crowley, cfo. The available commitment under the facility is limited to a borrowing base comprised of 92.5% of the net liquidation value of eligible inventory, 90% of receivables and 75% fair market value of the office building, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The previous facility was limited to 75% of eligible inventory and 85% of receivables.
The credit replaces a $135 million facility the Fort Worth, Texas-based company originally entered in September 2004 with a syndicate of banks led by Wells Fargo. Crowley explained that the old facility included financing for mortgage payments and although the new facility is $10 million smaller, it has a larger borrowing base. "It's just a much more aggressive facility" than what was already in place and the timing corresponded with the company's needs, she said. "Basically, it just came down to the amount of liquidity of the two different scenarios," she said.
Crowley referred questions in regards to pricing on the new facility to the company's Oct. 27 8-K filing with the SEC. The new facility bears interest at a Eurodollar rate plus a margin of 1% to 1 3/4%. Pricing on the previous facility was tied to a grid based on the average available commitment between LIBOR plus 1% to LIBOR plus 1 3/4%, according to a previous filing.
The facility, which is being used by the home accessories and furniture retailer to replace the existing facility and fund working capital, also has separate lines in the U.S. and Canada allowing its Canadian subsidiaries to borrow up to $18 million.