Press release

Positioning for post-COVID future – Update on Restructuring Plan

gategroup

January 15, 2021
CET 18:28

gategroup Holding AG (“gategroup”, the “Company” and together with its subsidiaries, the “Group”), announces that the High Court of England and Wales (the “Court”) today gave directions that the hearing in relation to the proposal by gategroup Guarantee Limited (the “Plan Company”) to convene a meeting of its creditors for the purposes of voting on an English restructuring plan under Part 26A of the United Kingdom’s Companies Act 2006 (the “Convening Hearing”) is to be adjourned until 3-4 February 2021. If the Court grants the order at the Convening Hearing scheduled to be held on 3-4 February 2021, a meeting of the Bondholders and Senior Lenders is expected to be held on 8 March 2021 and the meeting materials (including the explanatory statement) are expected to be made available to Senior Lenders and Bondholders on 8 February 2021.

Background

As announced on 26 November 2020, the Group, its shareholders, RRJ Capital and Temasek (the “Shareholders”) and all of the Group’s bank lenders under the senior facilities agreement dated 30 November 2018 (the “Senior Lenders” and the “SFA”, respectively) have agreed to the key terms and conditions of a recapitalisation of the Company and amendment of the terms of the Group’s financial indebtedness (the “Transaction”).

On 11 December 2020, the Company and gategroup Finance (Luxembourg) S.A. (the “Issuer”), as issuer of the CHF 350,000,000 3% bonds due 2022 (the “Bonds”), announced that, in order to implement certain aspects of the Transaction, gategroup Guarantee Limited (the “Plan Company”), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, had issued a practice statement letter to holders of the Bonds (the “Bondholders”) and the Senior Lenders formally notifying them of the Plan Company’s intention to launch an English restructuring plan under Part 26A of the United Kingdom’s Companies Act 2006 (the “Plan”) which will, amongst other things, amend certain terms of the Bonds and the SFA. The practice statement letter is available by registering on the Plan Website at https://glas.agency/investor_reporting/gategroup-en/.

Information agent

GLAS Specialist Services Limited

45 Ludgate Hill
London
EC4M 7JU
Email: LM@glas.agency
Telephone: +44 (0)20 3597 2940

Media inquiries

Adrian Montague

+41 44 533 70 00
invest@gategroup.com

About gategroup

gategroup is the global leader in airline catering, retail-on-board and hospitality products and services. gategroup provides passengers with superior culinary and retail experiences, leveraging innovation and advanced technology solutions. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, gategroup delivers operational excellence through the most extensive catering network in the aviation industry, serving passengers from over 200 operating units in over 60 countries/territories across all continents. For further information, please visit www.gategroup.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This publication contains forward-looking statements and other statements that are not historical facts. The words “believe”, “anticipate”, “plan”, “expect”, “project”, “estimate”, “predict”, “intend”, “target”, “assume”, “may”, “will” “could” and similar expression are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Such statements are made on the basis of assumptions and expectations that we believe to be reasonable as of the date of this publication but may prove to be erroneous and are subject to a variety of significant uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in forward looking statements. Among these factors are changes in overall economic conditions, changes in demand for our products, changes in the demand for, or price of, oil, risk of terrorism, war, geopolitical or other exogenous shocks to the airline sector, risks of increased competition, manufacturing and product development risks, loss of key customers, changes in government regulations, foreign and domestic political and legislative risks, risks associated with foreign operations and foreign currency exchange rates and controls, strikes, embargoes, weather-related risks and other risks and uncertainties. We therefore caution investors and prospective investors against relying on any of these forward-looking statements. We assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements or to update the reasons for which actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements, except as required by law.