Royal Caribbean Cruises announced it had amended the export-credit backed loan facility incurred to finance Celebrity Edge and amended the export-credit backed loan facility incurred to finance the Celebrity Apex and Symphony of the Seas. All three ships were built in France. The reworked deal gives the company an additional $220 million on liquidity.

In each case the deal was to incorporate the benefits of a 12-month debt holiday initiative being offered by BpiFrance Assurance Export, the official export credit agency of France, to the cruise industry.

The general intention of this initiative is to provide interim debt service and financial covenant relief during the current global health crisis to cruise-line borrowers with respect to their export credit agency guaranteed financings, the company said. 

Under the terms of each amendment, the lenders have made available to to the company a new tranche of the loan, the proceeds of which will be used to repay any principal amortization payments due on the facility between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021.

The Bpi Deferred Tranche will be repayable in eight equal semi-annual installments between April 2021 and October 2024, in the case of Celebrity Edge and between September 2021 and March 2025, in the case of Celebrity Apex and Symphony of the Seas.

Interest on the Bpi Deferred Tranche will accrue at the same floating rate that applies to the existing loan (LIBOR plus 0.90% per annum, in the case of Celebrity Edge and Celebrity Apex and LIBOR plus 1.10% in the case of Symphony of the Seas). Interest is payable during the Bpi Deferral Period.

The lenders have also agreed that, during the Bpi Deferral Period, a breach of the financial covenants will not trigger a mandatory prepayment under the facilities.

 Across the three facilities described above, the amendments will generate approximately $220 million of incremental liquidity through April 2021.