Quipt Home Medical, a U.S.-based provider to the home medical equipment industry, focused on end-to-end respiratory care, received a binding commitment letter from CIT Bank, a division of First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company, that CIT will commit to provide 100% of the senior secured credit facilities in the aggregate amount of up to $80 million (to be comprised of a term loan facility in an aggregate principal amount of up to $5 million, a delayed draw term loan facility in an aggregate principal amount of up to $55 million and a revolving credit facility in an aggregate principal amount of up to $20 million. The senior credit facilities would be evidenced by an amended and restated credit and guaranty agreement, which will amend and restate the credit agreement dated Sept. 18, 2020 between Quipt (and certain subsidiaries) and CIT (and other lenders). The primary use of proceeds of the loans made under the proposed senior credit facilities will be used to finance potential future acquisitions and general working capital purposes. Closing is anticipated to occur within 30 days.
“We are very appreciative of the continued support from CIT as we continue to execute on our aggressive growth strategy. The commitment letter from CIT for up to $80 million of senior credit facilities is a major milestone which paves the way for us to accelerate our acquisition approach across all three tiers of our well-defined strategy. As always, we will continue to remain extremely disciplined with our capital allocation strategy maintaining a very healthy balance sheet with a conservative leverage structure,” Greg Crawford, chairman and CEO of Quipt, said. “Furthermore, we believe that the senior credit facilities further validate the strength of our business model which is yielding robust financial and operating results and will provide us the flexibility needed to be very agile as opportunities arise. The recent elimination of the outstanding convertible debentures, coupled with this commitment letter put us in a very strong position as we look at the next stage of growth through 2022 and beyond.”
“Our finance team has worked extremely diligently with the team at CIT to pursue this well-timed significant credit facility amendment,” Hardik Mehta, CFO of Quipt, said. “The commitment to provide us with senior credit facilities of up to $80 million with an attractive cost of capital, provides the company with greatly enhanced financial flexibility and further strengthens our financial position to ensure our ability to continue to execute on our growth strategy and enhance long term shareholder value. Importantly, pursuant to the commitment letter, we will have the ability to solicit the lenders to expand the senior credit facilities beyond the initial $80 million commitment, as we continue to significantly grow the business in the future. The additional funding will be critical in our ability to move quickly and capitalize on the many attractive opportunities at our doorstep. Having completed 17 acquisitions since 2018, I am very confident that our robust acquisition program will continue to be a major driver of our future financial success and we expect meaningful progress on this front over the coming months.”
CIT Bank will act as the administrative agent and as the sole lead arranger and sole book runner for the proposed senior credit facilities. The proposed senior credit facilities remain subject to certain pre-disbursement conditions and satisfaction of other customary conditions precedent.
