CKE Restaurants, the parent company of fast-food chains Hardee's and Carl's Jr., has restructured its credit facilities to enable it to repay convertible notes maturing next March. The new bank debt consists of a three-year, $150 million revolver and a four-and-a-half year, $25 million term loan. The term loan will provide funds for the upcoming maturity of the company's 41/ 4% convertible notes in March 2004, said Ted Abajian, CKE's executive v.p. and cfo. That due date was the driving force behind attaining the facility, Abajian said. "We were fortunate to be able to coincide favorable rates with our needs," he added.
Abajian declined to comment on pricing, but price talk was LIBOR plus 33/ 4% on both the revolver and the term loan (LMW, 9/29). The revolver portion will provide increased liquidity for the company and also includes an $80 million letter of credit sub-facility to support the company's casualty insurance programs. The facility is led by BNP Paribas, which was also the lead on CKE's previous $100 million revolver. "They've been with us for five or six years now [and] done a great job for us," Abajian said. The former revolver was priced on a grid at LIBOR plus 33/ 4%-4 3/ 4 %.