Blue Bird Announces Financial Restructuring
FORT VALLEY, GA (Oct. 18, 2004) – Blue Bird Corporation announced today the completion of a financial restructuring of its parent company, Henlys Group plc, and its subsidiary companies including Blue Bird Corporation. The restructuring establishes Blue Bird Corporation as the sole operating subsidiary of a newly formed US based holding company principally owned by Volvo Group and members of Henlys’ banking syndicate.
The restructuring took the form of a debt for equity swap which effectively reduced the previous Henlys group debt level by approximately US$303 million while transferring 100% ownership of Blue Bird Corporation and responsibility for a term loan and working capital facility to a newly formed holding company named Peach County Holdings Inc. ("Peach”). Following the restructuring, the common of Peach is owned 42.5 percent by Volvo Group and 42.5 percent by members of the Henlys" banking syndicate, with the balance held by Blue Bird management and the trustee of Henlys Group pension scheme. As part of the restructuring, Volvo Bussar AB also acquired 100% ownership of Prevost Car Inc., previously held through a 50/50 joint venture between Henlys and Volvo Bussar AB. Following the restructuring, Peach has sufficient headroom under its new facilities to meet its anticipated working capital requirements.
David James who was appointed Chairman of Henlys in May at the start of the restructuring, confirmed his satisfaction with the outcome. "Blue Bird has now been placed on a firm financial foundation which will allow continued growth and performance improvement. Blue Bird"s new owners and the Blue Bird management team are committed to the long-term success of the company. The Volvo Group and Henlys" banking syndicate have worked intensively over the last several months to put this restructuring in place”.
Jeffry Bust, President and CEO of Blue Bird, remarked, "This was a complicated problem that was solved by a partnership of bank interests, the Volvo Group and management. Blue Bird employees, distributors and suppliers never lost focus on progressing Blue Bird"s improvement programs while the restructuring was put in place. Blue Bird should now compete with the benefits of a solid balance sheet and can move forward with its improvement process at a faster rate than over the last 12 months”.
Blue Bird Corporation is the leading manufacturer of school buses in North America and also produces commercial buses, luxury coaches and luxury motor homes. It has production facilities in Fort Valley GA., Lafayette, GA., and Brantford, Ontario and employs approximately 1,500 people, principally in North America.
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