Morton's Restaurant Group Inc. said it entered into a new $70 million credit facility with Goldman Sachs Bank USA.
The new financing replaces a former $70 million facility that was set to mature in early 2011, Morton's said Thursday.
The new five-year credit facility includes a $60 million senior term loan and a $10 million senior revolving credit facility. It carries a short-term variable interest rate and a leverage-based margin. Morton’s said the term loan and a portion of the revolving facility are being used to refinance the company’s borrowings outstanding under the previous credit facility.
“We are proud that we have maintained the integrity and strong reputation of our Morton’s steakhouses through the tough economic climate of the past few years,” said Christopher Artinian, president and chief executive of Chicago-based Morton’s. “Together with our new credit agreement, which increases our financial flexibility, we believe that these developments better position us to expand the Morton’s brand both domestically and internationally.”
After closing six steakhouses in 2009, Morton’s opened one new unit in 2010, in Shanghai, its first unit in mainland China. Expansion plans so far call for one more unit in uptown Dallas, opening early next year.
While its growth plans had been scaled back during the past year, Morton’s improved its sales throughout 2010. After logging a 5.3-percent decrease in same-store sales to close out 2009, Morton’s grew same-store sales in each of the first three quarters of fiscal 2010, with increases of 3.6 percent in the first quarter, 7.1 percent in the second and 3.2 percent in the third.
Morton’s operates 77 steakhouses in 26 states, Puerto Rico and six international locations — Hong Kong, Macau, Shanghai, Mexico City, Singapore and Toronto.
Contact Mark Brandau at [email protected].
