Universal Entertainment aims to enhance financial liquidity through note restructuring

The operator plans to execute an early redemption of its outstanding notes, which were originally due in December of this year. To finance this redemption, the operator will issue new notes with a redemption date set for three years later. The total value of the early redemption is $118.0m (£84.9m/€98.9m) and these notes were privately placed outside of Japan. Instead of maturing in December, the notes will now be redeemed in or around August. To fund the redemption, the operator will issue additional notes outside of Japan with a maximum value of $143.0m. These notes will mature on 11 December 2024 and carry an 8.5% interest rate per year, with an issue price of 102.0% of the principal amount. Universal Entertainment plans to appoint Union Gaming Securities as the marketing agent for the additional notes. The early redemption aims to improve the company’s cash flow and ensure its liquidity by assuming the issuance of additional notes. Universal Entertainment believes that there will be no major obstacles to issuing the additional notes in the current market environment. In 2020, Universal Entertainment reported a 27.3% year-on-year decline in revenue to JPY90.87bn, primarily due to the temporary closure of its Okada Manila resort, despite growth in the machine sales segment.