Lindblad Expeditions announced it has reached an agreement with its Export Credit Agency  lenders, Garantiinstituttet for eksportkreditt and Eksportkreditt Norge AS, which represent the Norwegian government, and Citibank, N.A., London Branch to amend its ECA facilities.

The deal relates to the new National Geographic Endurance and Resolution and the Senior Secured Credit Agreement dated January 8, 2018 for up to $107,694,892.00 in Respect of the Acquisition of Hull No. 312 (the “312 Amendment”), and (ii) First Amendment Relating to the Senior Secured Credit Agreement Dated April 8, 2019 for up to $122,840,000.00 in Respect of the Acquisition of Hull No. 316 (the “316 Amendment” and, together with the 312 Amendment, the “Amendments”).

The primary elements of the Amendments include:

• Deferral of scheduled amortization payments for four quarters from June 2020 through March 2021 in the aggregate amount of $8.97 million (“Deferred Tranche”). The Deferred Tranche will have the same interest rate as the main ECA facility and will amortize quarterly over four years starting in June 2021.
• Effective suspension of the Total Net Leverage Ratio covenant from June 2020 through June 2021.
• Inclusion of a quarterly Minimum Liquidity covenant that requires a minimum of $30 million of total consolidated cash, including restricted cash. Failure to meet the Minimum Liquidity covenant will not be an Event of Default, but will cancel any unused Deferred Tranche capacity.
• The Amendments provide the same terms other than the 316 Amendment does not provide for a Deferred Tranche as no amortization payments are due until delivery of the vessel, currently scheduled for 2021.