ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Moran Foods LLC, the St. Ann-based parent company of the Save A Lot grocery business, said it has completed a debt refinancing that will provide it with more liquidity and operational flexibility while lowering its borrowing costs.
Moran said last week in a press release that effective Dec. 30, the company closed on the refinancing of debt facilities put in place at the time of the company's 2020 restructuring.
The refinancing includes a new $200 million, five-year asset-based lending (ABL) credit facility, comprised of a $180 million traditional ABL and a $20 million first-in last-out (FILO) ABL facility. Those replace what officials said was "a more restrictive" $150 million ABL and an "expensive" $48 million FILO.
Moran also extended the maturity of about $377 million of existing term loans, including first-lien term loans totaling about $250 million, with maturities extended to June 30, 2026, and second-lien term loans totaling about $127 million, with maturities extended to December 31, 2026.
About $22 million of existing second-lien term loans weren't extended and will mature October 1, 2024, officials said. Moran also extended $15 million of commitments under a so-called super-senior credit facility to June 30, 2026.
Facing as much as $820 million in debt as of August 2019, Moran in 2020 recapitalized in a deal with a new investor group, coming away with a $350 million cash infusion and the cancellation of $500 million in debt. That freed the company to cut costs by transferring ownership of most of its company-owned Save A Lot stores to licensees and position the company as a wholesale supplier to those independently owned stores. The company planned to retain ownership of its St. Louis market stores for testing new initiatives.
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