Orleans Homebuilders Announces Limited Waiver and Amendment Extension
06 November 2009 - 8:37AM
PR Newswire (US)
BENSALEM, Pa., Nov. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Orleans
Homebuilders, Inc. (the "Company") (AMEX:OHB) announced today that
on November 4, 2009, but effective as of October 30, 2009, the
Company had received from the lenders under the Company's $375
million Credit Facility (the "lenders") a limited waiver and
amendment extension letter (the "Limited Waiver and Amendment
Extension Letter") related to the Company's Second Amended and
Restated Revolving Credit Loan Agreement dated September 30, 2008
(as amended, the "Credit Facility"). The Limited Waiver and
Amendment Extension Letter effectively extends for approximately
one month the borrowing base relief, minimum liquidity covenant
deferral, existing loan fee payment deferral (which has been earned
by the Lenders, but the failure to pay the fee currently is being
waived until the end of the amendment extension period) and other
accommodations provided by the terms of the Third Amendment
executed on September 30, 2009. In addition, the Limited Waiver and
Amendment Extension Letter waives a number of specific events of
default and anticipated events of default under the Credit
Agreement. The Limited Waiver and Amendment Extension Letter
generally provides borrowing base, covenant and waiver of default
relief until November 30, 2009, provided that the waiver period and
the extension of the accommodations provided by the Third Amendment
will end on the date that one or more events described in the
Limited Waiver and Amendment Extension Letter occurs. These events
include, but are not limited to, (i) the failure of the Company and
Wachovia Bank, National Association, as agent under the Credit
Facility (the "Agent"), to reach a mutual agreement in principle on
a term sheet containing the significant terms and conditions for
amending and restating the Credit Facility, subject to the
completion of due diligence, on or prior to November 12, 2009, (or
such later date agreed to by the Agent); (ii) the exercise or
commencement of any enforcement action against the Company as a
result of its failure to make the scheduled $639,000 quarterly
interest payment due on September 30, 2009 related to the 8.52%
junior subordinated note underlying the $30 million issue of trust
preferred securities, or the scheduled $235,000 quarterly payment
due on October 30, 2009 on the 1.0% junior subordinated notes;
(iii) the failure to provide sufficient detail of the intended use
of any advance under the Credit Facility, or if such use is not
deemed satisfactory by the Agent, but such payment is made over the
Agent's objection; and (iv) the occurrence of any other event of
default under the Credit Facility. At the end of the Amendment
Extension Period, the Limited Waiver and Amendment Extension will
terminate and the events of default and anticipated events of
default waived by the Limited Waiver will, effective as of the end
of the Amendment Extension Period, immediately constitute events of
default under the Credit Facility. As long as no event of default
has occurred under the Credit Facility other than the events of
default and anticipated events of default waived by the Limited
Waiver and on or prior to November 30, 2009, if the Lenders and the
Company have reached a mutual agreement in principle on a term
sheet containing the significant terms and conditions for amending
and restating the Credit Facility, the Amendment Extension Period
may be extended by the Agent through December 20, 2009, the
maturity date of the Credit Facility. The Company continues to work
actively with its lenders to obtain an amendment to its existing
$375 million Credit Facility and extension of the December 20, 2009
maturity date of the facility. The Company can offer no assurance
as to the terms of any extension or modifications or that it will
be able to obtain such a Credit Facility maturity extension or
other modifications at all or on acceptable terms, or obtain
alternative financing in the event it does not obtain such a Credit
Facility maturity extension and other necessary modifications. In
light of these ongoing negotiations and uncertainty, the Company
has not made the $639,000 quarterly payment due on September 30,
2009 with respect to the $30 million issue of 8.52% trust preferred
securities, which constitutes an event of default under those trust
preferred securities and which entitles the holders of such
securities to accelerate payment and to exercise other remedies.
The Company did not make the $235,000 quarterly payment due on
October 30, 2009 with respect to the new junior subordinated notes
("the New Junior Subordinated Notes") exchanged by the Company on
August 3, 2009 for the Company's $75 million issue of trust
preferred securities. If the $235,000 quarterly payment is not made
within the 30-day cure period under the applicable indenture, an
event of default will occur under the New Junior Subordinated
Notes, which would entitle the holders of such securities to
accelerate payment after December 1, 2009 and to exercise other
remedies. The Company cannot predict what action, if any, the
holders of these securities may take. The Company also cannot
predict when, and if, the Company will actually make these
quarterly payments. On November 2, 2009, the Company received a
written notice from the NYSE Amex LLC (the "Exchange") stating that
the Company is not in compliance with the Exchange's continuing
listing criteria set forth in Sections 134 and 1101 of the NYSE
Amex LLC Company Guide because it failed to timely file its Annual
Report on Form 10-K (the "Form 10-K") for the fiscal year ended
June 30, 2009 and such failure constitutes a material violation of
its listing agreement with the Exchange authorizing the Exchange to
suspend and, unless prompt corrective action is taken, remove the
Company's common stock from the Exchange pursuant to Section
1003(d) of the Company Guide. The Company intends to comply with
requirements set forth in the written notice by submitting a plan
of compliance to the Exchange by November 16, 2009 advising the
Exchange of the actions the Company intends to take to bring the
Company into compliance with the applicable provisions of the
Company Guide by February 2, 2010. As previously reported, the
Company could not timely file its Form 10-K without unreasonable
effort or expense. The Company is working as expeditiously as
possible to finalize its accounting and related disclosure for the
period covered by its Form 10-K and currently expects to file the
Form 10-K during the month of December 2009. The Company currently
anticipates that the one-month liquidity enhancement provided by
the Amendment Extension Letter should meet the Company's liquidity
needs only up to approximately November 30, 2009. The Company
anticipates that without either a Credit Facility maturity
extension and other modifications, or an additional amendment to
the Credit Facility to increase borrowing base availability on or
before November 30, 2009: (i) the net borrowing base availability
at that time will be significantly less than the borrowings under
the revolving Credit Facility at that time; (ii) the Company will
be unable to pay an existing loan fee earned by the lenders without
an additional amendment to defer the timing of the payment of such
loan fee; (iii) the Company will likely violate the minimum
liquidity covenant at some time in or before early December 2009;
(iv) the Company will violate certain other covenants under the
Credit Facility at that time (or shortly thereafter); and (v) the
Company will likely not have sufficient liquidity to continue its
normal operations at that time (or shortly thereafter). In
addition, the Company may need additional amendments to its Credit
Facility for a variety of reasons on or prior to November 30, 2009.
For additional discussion of the Company's liquidity, including a
discussion of the scheduled December 20, 2009 maturity date of the
Company's Credit Facility, please refer to the Liquidity and
Capital Resources section of the Company's Quarterly Report on Form
10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2009 filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission on May 15, 2009, as well as the Current
Reports on Form 8-K and press releases filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission on August 14, 2009 and October 6, 2009 and
the Company's Form 12b-25 filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission on September 29, 2009.g About Orleans Homebuilders, Inc.
Orleans Homebuilders, Inc. develops, builds and markets
high-quality single-family homes, townhouses and condominiums. The
Company serves a broad customer base including first-time, move-up,
luxury, empty nester and active adult homebuyers. The Company
currently operates in the following eleven distinct markets:
Southeastern Pennsylvania; Central and Southern New Jersey; Orange
County, New York; Charlotte, Raleigh and Greensboro, North
Carolina; Richmond and Tidewater, Virginia; Chicago, Illinois; and
Orlando, Florida. The Company's Charlotte, North Carolina
operations also include adjacent counties in South Carolina. To
learn more about Orleans Homebuilders, please visit
http://www.orleanshomes.com/. Forward-Looking Statements Certain
information included herein and in other Company statements,
reports and SEC filings is forward-looking within the meaning of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including,
but not limited to, statements concerning anticipated or expected
financing arrangements, anticipated amendments to its Credit
Facility, payments on its 8.52% Trust Preferred Securities and the
New Junior Subordinated Notes, anticipated increase in net new
orders, conditions in or recovery of the housing market, and
economic conditions; the Company's long-term opportunities;
continuing overall economic conditions and conditions in the
housing and mortgage markets and industry outlook; anticipated or
expected operating results, revenues, sales, net new orders,
backlog, pace of sales, spec unit levels, and traffic; future or
expected liquidity, financial resources, debt or equity financings,
amendments to or extensions of our existing revolving Credit
Facility, strategic transactions and alternatives; other
alternative recapitalization or exchange offer transactions; the
anticipated impact of bank reappraisals; future impairment charges;
future tax valuation allowance and its value; anticipated or
possible federal and state stimulus plans or other possible future
government support for the housing and financial services
industries; anticipated cash flow from operations; reductions in
land expenditures; the Company's ability to meet its internal
financial objectives or projections, and debt covenants; potential
future land sales; the Company's future liquidity, capital
structure and finances; the Company's response to market
conditions; and the Company's response to the Exchange's notice
concerning listing requirements. Such forward-looking information
involves important risks and uncertainties that could significantly
affect actual results and cause them to differ materially from
expectations expressed herein and in other Company statements,
reports and SEC filings. These risks and uncertainties include
local, regional and national economic conditions, the effects of
governmental regulation, the competitive environment in which the
Company operates, fluctuations in interest rates, changes in home
prices, the availability and cost of land for future growth, the
availability of capital, our ability to modify or extend our
existing Credit Facility or otherwise engage in a financing or
strategic transaction; the availability and cost of labor and
materials, our dependence on certain key employees and weather
conditions. In addition, there can be no assurance that the Company
will be able to obtain any amendment to or extension of its
existing revolving Credit Facility or other alternative financing
or adjust successfully to current market conditions. Additional
information concerning factors the Company believes could cause its
actual results to differ materially from expected results is
contained in Item 1A of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K/A
for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2008 filed with the SEC and
subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. DATASOURCE:
Orleans Homebuilders, Inc. CONTACT: Garry P. Herdler - Executive
Vice President & Chief Financial Officer of Orleans
Homebuilders, Inc., +1-215-245-7500 Web Site:
http://www.orleanshomes.com/
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