Sea Island Long-Term Debt Restructuring

[Mike Vegis @ Kiawah]

FYI--  Good news...  While they're in our competitive set, it's a great facility and we hope this works out for them...

FOR  IMMEDIATE   RELEASE
Contact: Merry Tipton, Vice President of Corporate Communications, Sea Island Company, 912-634-4359; merrytipton@seaisland.com

               
 
Sea Island Reaches Agreement in Principle for Long-Term Debt Restructuring
 
SEA ISLAND, GA (April 22, 2009) - Sea Island Company today announced that it has reached an agreement in principle with its primary lenders to enter into a new long-term debt agreement.  The agreement will consolidate existing indebtedness into a new three-year credit facility with a final maturity of May 2012.  The parties expect to finalize the agreement in early May 2009.

"I am confident that this new agreement provides Sea Island Company with the wherewithal to withstand these challenging economic times. We thank Columbus Bank and Trust Company and its banking partners for their efforts in what we all know to be a challenging lending environment, and would like to say how grateful we are to have them as our bankers.  I also thank all the employees of Sea Island Company who have endured these times and yet still provide a quality of service that resulted in four Mobil 5-Star awards being received by the company. And while we will continue to run the company in a financially sound manner, it should be clear to all that our focus remains on providing our members and guests with the level of hospitality they have come to expect over the last 81 years," said Bill Jones III, Sea Island Company Chairman and CEO.


Richard Anthony, Chairman and CEO of Synovus, the parent company of Columbus Bank and Trust, stated,  "We value our working relationship with Sea Island Company, which offers some of the finest resort facilities in the world. We look forward to finalizing this agreement and to moving forward.”   

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A private resort and real estate development company founded in 1928, Sea Island Company today owns and operates the Mobil Five-Star Cloister at Sea Island and the Mobil Five-Star, AAA Five-Diamond Lodge at Sea Island Golf Club.  Sea Island Resorts includes the championship golf courses, Golf Learning Center, the Mobil Five-Star Georgian Room restaurant, extensive recreational facilities and children’s programs, and the Mobil Five-Star Cloister Spa.

[Steve Lapper]

Having just returned from there, I second your assessment of the quality of the facilities. It is a spectacular resort. The Seaside course was exceptional and remains vastly underrated IMHO.

The debt restructuring announcement below is welcome SHORT-to-MID-TERM relief, and little more. The present economic contraction/morass might well continue to negatively impact the ultra high-end resort market for a good long time to come. The Sea Island/Cloisters facilities, while truly unique and lavish, still commands a very high price and effectively prices out the majority of the marketplace. The days of catering to the high-end corporate spending crowd might well be over for a period of time that long exceeds this 3-year effective extension.

I root for their survival and success, but remain afraid for their future.

[Bill_McBride]

Steve, I fear you may be right about the future of the truly high end resorts.  There is of course still a lot of money around but I think many who could afford such luxury may be cutting back.  That can't help Sea Island and other high end spots.

I always think fondly of Sea Island although I've never been there.  My uncle was a cotton broker in Newnan, Georgia back in the days when cotton was king.  Every year he went to the Masters as a charter season ticket holder, spent a fall fortnight at Sea Island, went to Boca Grande for fishing, St Augustine for a week in the winter, and never missed a home Georgia Bulldogs football game.  Those were the days! I hope we see them again.