Travelodge getting back on its feet after successful, short bankruptcy period

Travelodge Ltd., a U.K. budget hotel chain, completed a financial restructuring halving its debt and giving lenders stakes in the business.

Investors including Avenue Capital Group LLC, GoldenTree Asset Management LP, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. have injected 75 million pounds ($120 million) into the Thame, England-based company, Travelodge said today in an e-mailed statement.

Hedge funds Avenue Capital and GoldenTree provided a 60 million-pound loan to the hotel chain earlier this year to ease concerns about its liquidity.

Travelodge bank debt will reduce to 329 million pounds after 235 million pounds of borrowing was written off and 71 million pounds was repaid, according to the statement. The repayment date on the remaining debt has been extended to 2017 and the interest margin cut to 25 basis points over benchmark rates.

The buyout of Travelodge in 2006 by Dubai International Capital LLC, the Persian Gulf emirate’s private-equity firm, was funded by 600 million pounds of leveraged loans maturing from 2012 to 2017, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. DIC wrote off its investment in Travelodge in 2008.

Editors: Tom Freke, Faris Khan. To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Kuo in London at [email protected]. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Faris Khan at [email protected].