Empire Today® Announces Agreement for New Capital to Strengthen Liquidity

The transaction will extend the Company's revolving maturities and term loan maturities, increasing its liquidity & financial flexibility

NORTHLAKE, Ill., Nov. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Empire Today®, LLC, also known as Empire Carpet® and Empire Flooring® ("Empire" or "the Company"), the country's largest shop-at-home, direct-to-consumer flooring company, today announced that it has entered into a new credit facility with lenders holding approximately 82% of its existing term loans and 100% of its existing revolving commitments. The transaction will, among other things, provide significant incremental liquidity to the Company on competitive terms and extend its existing debt maturities. Pursuant to an offer made to the remaining term loan lenders today, each existing term loan lender has the right to subscribe for its pro rata share of the new money financing and to participate in the transaction to extend the maturity.

According to the terms of the new credit facility, the Company's revolving credit facility maturity will be extended to February 2029 and the maturity for approximately 82% of its term loan will be extended to August 2029. The remaining approximately 18% of the term loan could be extended to August 2029 pursuant to the offer Empire is making to the remaining term loan lenders. Additionally, under the agreement, Empire's revolving financial covenant has been waived for the next two years and it will have no other financial covenants during this time.

"Today's transaction represents a critical step forward for Empire, providing us with the liquidity and financial flexibility necessary to continue to navigate the shifting business environment," said Brian Hutto, CEO of Empire Today. "In addition, we have streamlined our operations and bolstered our management team in recent years. This well positions Empire to capitalize on the expected recovery in the flooring industry and for future growth. We are thankful for the continued partnership with Charlesbank and H.I.G. and look forward to strengthening our financial foundation to best execute our go-forward strategy for the business."

Ropes & Gray LLP and Greenhill & Co., LLC are serving as external legal and financial advisors to Empire.  Paul Hastings LLP and Lazard are serving as external legal and financial advisors to an ad hoc group of consenting first lien lenders.

About Empire Today
Empire Today, LLC, also commonly known as Empire Carpet and for its famous 800-588-2300® jingle, has been a leading provider of installed home improvements and home furnishings for 65 years. Empire serves residential and business customers with a wide selection of products for homes, small businesses, organizations, and commercial applications. Empire offers quality installed name-brand products including carpet, hardwood flooring, laminate flooring, tile and vinyl flooring. Empire's customers enjoy shop-at-home convenience or on-site consultations, next-day professional installation on many products, quality products at great prices, and award-winning service in over 70 of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States. With more than 3 million satisfied customers, Empire Today is dedicated to customer satisfaction. For more information, visit EmpireToday.com.

About Charlesbank Capital Partners
Based in Boston and New York, Charlesbank Capital Partners is a middle-market private investment firm with more than $19 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2024. Charlesbank focuses on management-led buyouts, growth capital financings, opportunistic credit, and technology investments. The firm seeks to invest in companies with sustainable competitive advantage and excellent prospects for growth. For more information, please visit www.charlesbank.com. 

About H.I.G. Capital
H.I.G. Capital is a leading global alternative investment firm with $65 billion of capital under management.* Based in Miami, and with offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco in the United States, as well as international affiliate offices in Hamburg, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Dubai, and Hong Kong, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to middle market companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/value-added approach:

• H.I.G.'s equity funds invest in management buyouts, recapitalizations, and corporate carve-outs of both profitable as well as underperforming manufacturing and service businesses.
• H.I.G.'s debt funds invest in senior, unitranche and junior debt financing to companies across the size spectrum, both on a primary (direct origination) basis, as well as in the secondary markets. H.I.G. also manages a publicly traded BDC, WhiteHorse Finance.
• H.I.G.'s real estate funds invest in value-added properties, which can benefit from improved asset management practices.
• H.I.G. Infrastructure focuses on making value-add and core plus investments in the infrastructure sector.

Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 400 companies worldwide. The Firm's current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of $53 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at hig.com.

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SOURCE Empire Today