Apex Parks Group has announced that it is pursuing a comprehensive financial restructuring aimed at reducing the company’s current debt and, ultimately, enhancing operations to continue to serve guests and communities for years to come. As part of this process, Apex expects to enter into a stalking horse purchase agreement with its prepetition secured lenders to sell substantially all of its assets and operations. The company has filed for Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the District of Delaware to facilitate the sale. The lenders will also provide financing to support the Company during the restructuring.
“The actions we are taking today will help better position the company for the future and enable us to continue serving our guests, team members and other business partners in the years ahead,” said John Fitzgerald, Apex CEO. “Apex has faced a number of challenges in recent years… however, despite the hard work of our team members, continuing market headwinds and operational challenges have prevented us from meaningfully improving financial performance.”
The Chapter 11 process will not affect the operations of Apex’s ten family entertainment centres and two water parks in California, Florida, and New Jersey. The company has temporarily closed all locations in accordance with federal and local government mandates and CDC guidelines to proactively protect guests and employees in response to the COVID-19 pandemic but expects to return to operating in the ordinary course upon reopening of the locations. Upon resumption of regular business operations, the Company intends to honour customer programs such as Season Passes and gift cards at its operating parks, pay employee wages and benefits in the ordinary course of business, and pay vendors and suppliers in a timely fashion.
“We look forward to reopening the parks so that we can continue to provide exceptional and memorable guest experiences for our communities,” Fitzgerald added. “I also want to extend our deepest gratitude to our team members. We recognize this is a challenging time on numerous fronts and look forward to us all returning to work.”