TUI AG (TUI1) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

December 2, 2020

Deutsche Boerse Xetra DE Consumer Discretionary Hotels, Restaurants and Leisure special 42 min

Earnings Call Speaker Segments

Friedrich Joussen

executive
#1

Thank you, and good evening, everybody. It's an interesting day. Actually, it's a good day for TUI, I think. I'm remote sitting in Germany, and the team is sitting everywhere, and we are meeting virtually since days and weeks. And it's a nature of this crisis, which is a huge crisis and the biggest crisis tourism has ever seen that we are not sitting together. And therefore, I need to say right now that I want to talk about Page #3. And while you might be guided to 3, I just want to say that the whole TUI finance team is sitting here with Birgit Conix and Mathias Kiep and all the team in Hanover and Brussels; and also, Peter Krueger. Peter will be talking after me as he has been our lead and architect of the deal, negotiating with the related parties. Now let me open for a moment. And as you know, we started into the crisis very, very strongly. And before the crisis, we had good -- very good booking numbers and enormous year-on-year increases, and then the revenue went down to almost 0 in the quarter starting April. We recovered a little bit and had roughly 2 million customers after July. And now it's very volatile again, and you see that on Page #5, which is included into the package for your information. Today, I don't want to talk about -- anyhow about trading and the year-end results. That is something we will talk about next week, as we will close our books for the year-end only by next week. But this -- today, I would like to talk about the support package, which we have been negotiating. Now the support package, which actually has been signed today by all relevant parties, is a huge indication of confidence into our business and into the -- our company as such. It is actually a package which is a multilateral package amongst different parties and let me highlight a couple of them. The first one is, of course, the capital increase with subscription rights of approximately EUR 500 million. I mean that is something which we would have thought was not possible just a week ago. But with the increased share price, due to all the COVID news and the vaccine COVID news, I mean, has made it possible, and we negotiated last minute, and we are backed with -- by 4 banks. And also, that's also interesting and very good, led by the Mordashov family and, if at all possible, they are striving to increase their share in our company. And I think that is an enormous sign of confidence. And without that, I think -- as I said, based on that, it's a very good basis to go ahead. Also, the state will be participating through WSF with convertible into shares. So they are trying or they are striving to do a silent participation. That is, a capital increase, again, I think, is important because these 2 components, the first one, the subscription rights as well as the convertible into shares, these 2 components strengthen our share capital and it's not debt. So that's also something which is strongly contributing to balance sheet repairs in the future and -- for the future of the company. Also state guarantees have been negotiating. And these are actually not fresh money, but to free up restricted cash in collateral in the company, which, of course, based on the situation we have been in, has increased over time. And it's restricted cash, of course, cash in the company. Now we can work with that cash again. And again, it's not fresh money, therefore, it doesn't need to be repaid. So -- and on top of that comes another tranches of debt instruments. And I would say the situation today is that we can say today, the liquidity has been taken care of for the company now. And also, the balance sheet repair is very well underway, much better than I would have thought. Maturities are now pushed out to the second half of '22. So it's a lot of time. And also, I think the business, if at all the vaccines and the good news on the first licensing of vaccine in the U.K. today is another piece of it as well as rapid test as the major -- antigen test is a major message for travel, not closing borders, no quarantine, but antigen tests actually are leading now the way. So we believe we are strongly positioned to benefit from any market recovery, which I think we are seeing or will be seeing in due course. And I'm pretty sure with the existing package, which actually now is in place after very hard work, I have to say, we are very well-positioned to resume our growth trajectory. With that said, that's my introductory remark, and I think I should be handing over right now Birgit right -- and Peter, right to you, Peter, to explain what actually is part of the package and how it all plays out.

Birgit Conix

executive
#2

Yes. To Peter, yes.

Friedrich Joussen

executive
#3

Okay. Peter, please.

Peter Krueger

executive
#4

Great. Thank you very much, Fritz. So a very good afternoon also from my side, and welcome, everybody. Best page to look at is Page 6. So here, we have illustrated the deal components again. As Fritz said, it's a package deal consisting of EUR 1.8 billion. It's including and based on the support of our shareholders as of today, the support from our major shareholder, Alexey Mordashov. It's also supported by a syndicate of banks on the debt and also on the capital increase side. And of course, as Fritz said, there's also an element of government support and participation in the company. Now let's look at the single deal components. The first one we described as WSF. That's the shortcut for the economic stabilization fund in Germany. So similar to a structure that you may have seen in the market at Lufthansa. And this comprises of 2 hybrids. So in specific terms, these are 2 silent participations. We call it hybrid to simplify. We talk about a net commitment of EUR 700 million in detail. And in the appendix, you will find more details on the deal structure. The gross amount equates to EUR 900 million. But given we've been able to commit to a capital increase of EUR 500 million over the last couple of days, the net exposure of WSF is reduced automatically to EUR 700 million, while the remainder of EUR 200 million provides a backup facility for TUI in case there would be a shortfall of the capital increase in excess of EUR 300 million. Now if you look at the single hybrid, the first hybrid is a EUR 420 million hybrid. It has a conversion option into TUI shares, but only up to a maximum of 25% plus 1 share. The conversion price is EUR 1. So this is a straight convertible. If you look at the second component, we talk about EUR 480 million gross and EUR 280 million net. So that's the EUR 200 million knock off from the higher capital increase than originally anticipated, which equates to EUR 280 million hybrid. This is a straight hybrid instruments subordinated, which also receives IFRS equity credit. And as you can see from the chart, this part of the deal -- this is the leading agreement, a leading framework agreement for the entire deal. It is also important to mention that all of the deal components, of course, have to materialize for the entire deal to come alive. But we have -- as Fritz said earlier, we have committed all of the deal components as of today and, therefore, there's a very high level of transaction certainty. Now if you look on the right-hand side at the top, the deal also comprises a EUR 200 million additional revolving credit facility supported by KfW. It's largely at the same terms of our existing RCF lines that you received from KfW already. The main difference here, this will be a secured line, while the other lines we had so far were all unsecured. As part of the agreement with KfW, we've also managed to prolong our maturity that was coming due in -- at first of April in '21 and have moved this maturity of EUR 500 million alongside the deal now and pushed it out to a maturity date of July '22. So next year, there will be no maturities at TUI. We have been able, as part of this year, and I'll come to it in a minute as regards to the bond, to actually move out all of our maturities until July '22. Now the third element you can see here is described as a state guarantee. So the idea here is to receive state guarantees that should enable TUI to unlock cash collateral. You may have seen and noticed that over the recent months, we have accumulated quite substantial cash collateral positions with some of our suppliers. Now on the back of these state guarantees, the idea is to unlock and free up that cash. So while the guarantee itself is a noncash instrument, it will enable TUI to unlock liquidity and, therefore, strengthen our liquidity position. As you also can see here, and I have to mention that the state guarantee is, per se, committed from the government. There is an alternative embedded in the term sheet that actually provides us with the flexibility to have an increase in Hybrid II, in case the final state guarantee will not materialize in time. So this commitment needs to be signed and agreed as part of the subsequent deal documentation. And therefore, just in case to have a safety net, there is also a clause in the WSF term sheet that the Hybrid II will be increased by EUR 400 million as a potential bridge and fall-back, in case the state guarantees will not materialize. Now the last component but a very important component is a EUR 500 million capital increase. So here, the whole idea is to reduce our nominal value of our shares from EUR 2.56 to EUR 1 and then issue a 500 million new shares at EUR 1 net. The issue price will be EUR 1.07 to account for the transactional cost, but the net proceeds to TUI will be 500 million shares at EUR 1. This is a capital increase with subscription rights. So all of our shareholders are invited to participate. We think it's a quite attractive offer. This entire amount is 100% underwritten by our largest shareholder Unifirm and the remainder by a syndicate of 4 banks, and you can see the name of the 4 banks on the page. Two of them are our corporate brokers, as you know. The proceeds from this transaction, the EUR 500 million, EUR 300 million out of these proceeds will have to be used to repay our senior bonds outstanding that are maturing in October this year. As you're aware, based on the amended bond documentation, this is a mandatory prepayment of the bond. And at the moment, we receive the EUR 500 million proceeds. Now let's have a quick look at this year from 3 perspectives. You may have noticed in various statements that I've seen so far ahead of the call, I noticed there are 3 different numbers in the system: one is EUR 2.3 billion, the other one is EUR 1.8 billion and the third one is EUR 1.5 billion. And I'm sure you're questioning how all of these numbers relate. So let me just give you a very brief description. So EUR 1.8 billion is the total package, as you can see on this page, consisting of EUR 700 million hybrids, EUR 400 million guarantees, EUR 200 million RCF, EUR 500 million capital increase. Now the additional 2-point -- the additional EUR 500 million to get to a EUR 2.3 billion number, this is the prolongation of the maturity of the existing RCF line, which is not fresh money to TUI, but which is actually moving out the maturity and making another EUR 500 million available to TUI until July '22 and, therefore, providing us more headroom for liquidity for a longer period in time. Now the EUR 1.5 billion is actually the EUR 1.8 billion liquidity we receive net of the repayment of the EUR 300 million of bonds, which leads to a net liquidity increase by EUR 1.5 billion. So that liquidity perspective, you could also look at this transaction from a financing perspective, right? And as I already mentioned, from a financing perspective, it's important to point out again that there is no maturities in '21, next maturity only in July '22. So therefore, there's an embedded kicker on the financing side in a sense of no maturities. And the third perspective you could take on this deal is clearly from a balance sheet support or repayment perspective. So here again, based on the EUR 1.8 billion, you can see EUR 500 million is equity raising from private investors. There is this EUR 420 million hybrid risk conversion, right? So depending on the assumption of conversion or not, this could convert into equity. And therefore, you can think of a EUR 920 million equity, nonrefundable equity portion from a redemption perspective. We have the EUR 400 million of guarantees. Again, the guarantees is noncash. So they don't have to be repaid. They have to potentially be replaced, which will be possible based on a rating increase of TUI. So therefore, this is like the amount that is not to be refinanced or repaid in cash. So the only remaining 2 elements that will have to be repaid in cash, for sure, is the EUR 200 million RCF of KfW plus the EUR 280 million of WSF hybrid, but only if, and it's important to point out again, only if we draw on these amounts, right? So first of all, we have to draw these amounts. And then of course, we have to repay. But if we don't draw on these amounts, then we don't have to repay. So therefore, you can see also from a redemption and an equity strengthening perspective this year, it ticks a lot of boxes. And we are very -- we are happy that we actually received a combination of private and public money, combined in a deal package that is addressing a lot of our financing requirements. Now moving on to Page 7. This is a snapshot of the timeline. So this is telling you what is ahead of us. Obviously, today, 2nd of December, we signed the agreements, all of the agreements on the previous page as part of the package. So the entire deal package is secured. We will also publish our full year results next week on the 10th of December. And then you can see that we will fairly soon thereafter send out an invitation for an extraordinary general meeting. This is required for 3 main reasons: first, to have a resolution by the shareholders on the capital reduction from EUR 2.56 to EUR 1 nominal value, plus to get a resolution for the EUR 500 million capital increase, plus to have resolution on the EUR 420 million Hybrid I. Now this will be a virtual extraordinary general meeting, which will take place in January, as you can see. And then shortly thereafter, we're planning to launch the rights issue, which, according to German standards, as you will be aware, is foreseeing a 2-week subscription offer period. So during the subscription offer period, investors can choose to participate in the capital increase and then the settlement will follow shortly after the last day of the subscription offer period. So that's the summary on the deal, on the timeline. And with that, I would hand back to you, Fritz. Hello, operator, can I check if you're still on the line, sorry, because I can't hear anything?

Operator

operator
#5

Yes, I can confirm you are still on the line. And Fritz, I think your line may be unmuted -- your line maybe muted, could you please unmute?

Friedrich Joussen

executive
#6

Sorry. So I did my final remarks and muted. This is actually typical for all these electronic communications. I hope you can hear me now. The thing I said, I think the whole package is strategically not only addressing liquidity, it also addresses balance sheet. It addresses all the basic needs to be even stronger after the crisis. And all the pent-up demand we see when we open corridors, I mean, show that tourism will be intact. And when you look at Page #9, maybe to close with that, I think our business model is strong and is very relevant. And we will be in a very good market position, returning to profitable growth after the crisis. And with that, I would like to open for questions.

Operator

operator
#7

[Operator Instructions] And the first question comes from the line of Stuart Gordon from Berenberg.

Stuart Gordon

analyst
#8

Yes. A couple of questions, please. First one is, can you give us any form of guidance, given all the moving parts? I appreciate results next week on debt service costs for 2021 post the transaction. Secondly, the liquidity you mentioned, is that before or after the fees being paid for this deal, which looked to be quite significant? And the third question is, I think you have the choice of making the interest on the Hybrid I payment in kind. How will that work? Will it result in more shares being available to convert? Or will it simply accrue and at some point in the future, you'll need to pay cash?

Friedrich Joussen

executive
#9

Do you want to take that, Peter or Mathias or Birgit?

Peter Krueger

executive
#10

Sure. I'm happy to. So on the first point, debt service cost, I think, Stuart, this is indeed something we have to discuss next week. As we said, this announcement today is not about our financials, which we will present to you in detail next week. Now in terms of liquidity, you can see in our statement, we're talking about EUR 2.5 billion of liquidity as of end of November. This is after a pro forma repayment of EUR 300 million bond. So the gross liquidity would be EUR 2.8 billion, and we can also confirm to you that the net proceeds to TUI will be EUR 500 million of the share offering. So the delta between EUR 1 and EUR 1.07 is fees that will be retained by the underwriting banks. So in terms of fees, you have to acknowledge one thing here, Stuart, which is a bit untypical. The time for underwriting is quite a long time here from the bank's perspective. So typically, in the German market, underwritings will happen from start of subscription period. The banks are underwriting already from the announcement today. So therefore, it's a much longer time period. We have to go through an EGM process. So therefore, the fees are a little bit higher, as you noted. But the net proceeds to TUI will be the EUR 500 million under the equity offering. The payment in kind under Hybrid I, that's absolutely in the discretion of TUI. The mechanism is accrued interest. And as you said, these will be cash effective later, but we have the option to keep the cash interest cost for the company low over the next couple of years. So as long as we have the hybrid outstanding and, therefore, can accrue all of this interest from a cash perspective.

Stuart Gordon

analyst
#11

Okay. And just to be clear on those fees, on the EUR 1.07, that's all the fees. That includes lawyers' fees, other bank fees associated to the other financing, any fees favorable to the state for the financing, that's -- the EUR 1.07 covers it all.

Peter Krueger

executive
#12

Correct.

Operator

operator
#13

The next question comes from the line of James Ainley from Citi.

James Ainley

analyst
#14

First question is, if I've understood you correctly, you're not going to disclose the coupon on the hybrid. Second, just want to be clear about how many shares there could be outstanding. Are we saying that base of 589 plus the 509 for the capital increase? And then if the hybrid is converted, it would be up to 25% of that in large share capital. So ultimately, about 1.46 billion shares. Confirm that, please. And then based on what you've told us, that looks to me like it's -- you've been running a cash burn at around EUR 500 million a month the last 2 months. Again, please, can you just confirm if my math is correct or not?

Birgit Conix

executive
#15

Yes. Can I -- James, can I really please ask that we talk about the numbers like next week. It's -- I mean it's in a week from here and that we really keep the questions on the current government package.

Peter Krueger

executive
#16

Exactly, thanks, Birgit, which brings it down to 2 out of 3 questions, James, right? So the first question on the Hybrid. I mean, we have not disclosed the terms, but to give you a brief guidance. So this is single mid-digit at the beginning, but there's, of course, a ratchet over time, and over time, this will accrete to more double-digit numbers, which also puts up an incentive for the company to repay the Hybrid at one point in time. Then the calculation you did on the dilution is absolutely correct. So 590 million shares now plus another 500 million new shares under the equity offering makes it the 1,090 million. And then if you calculate a 25% participation of the government, then this would be -- this would equate to another 360 million shares at EUR 1. So the total shares outstanding would be 1,450 million, if the Hybrid I is converted into 25% plus 1.

James Ainley

analyst
#17

Yes. And sorry, just last question on liquidity. I was really just trying to reconcile what you told us that the current liquidity of the business, assuming repayment of the corporate bond, is EUR 2.5 billion. If you've raised EUR 1.5 billion, therefore, net, add EUR 2 billion of liquidity at the end of September, that would imply that, from what you've told us today, that you've burned through about EUR 1 billion of cash in the last 2 months. So I was really just trying to reconcile those numbers to make sure I understood that math correctly.

Peter Krueger

executive
#18

Yes. Let's discuss these numbers next week, James, right? Because -- I understand your question. But -- sorry, but part of your calculation is relating to the current and latest trading, and we cannot disclose these numbers now in this blackout period. So please let's focus on this question again next week.

Operator

operator
#19

The next question comes from the line of Jaafar Mestari from Exane BNP Paribas.

Jaafar Mestari

analyst
#20

First question, please, just on where investors should have expected this deal to land. I just want to refer to the 1st October, where there were press reports that you could look at the capital increase between EUR 1 billion and EUR 1.5 billion. And you issued a public response stating that any capital raise would be significantly lower than EUR 1 billion to EUR 1.5 billion. So I appreciate that many things have changed since early October. A couple of the green dots on your charts turned red or yellow. But my question is, if I take the equity raise today, plus the 2 hybrids together, I could be saying, well, there's EUR 1.2 billion in equity here. So my question is, which of the hybrids would you consider to be equity in a base case scenario? I'm not talking about the potential dilution, but is your hope that the Hybrid I will be repaid when you're in a position to do a complete refinancing? On Slide 11, you say you can terminate it by TUI once the loans and the other hybrid have been redeemed. So is that a realistic base case? Or should we be looking at fully diluted share count, please?

Peter Krueger

executive
#21

Yes. It's a very good question, Jaafar, right? So let me answer in the following way. So while a lot of the operational color coding on Page 5 has turned red, a lot of the financing options have turned green in the last couple of weeks, which is very good news for TUI, so also sends a strong signal from investors trusting in the performance and the ability of the company to recover. Now as regards to your calculation, you can indeed take the view of EUR 1.2 billion of equity. If you look at it from a, let's say, conversion perspective, if you add the IFRS equity credit of Hybrid II, then you indeed end up with EUR 1.2 billion. So that is, I think, a good perspective. On the dilution, we have -- I mean, this is ultimately a decision the government has to take. So we cannot comment from the company's side, whether the government is intending to convert its convertible into shares. Having said that, I mean, you can also see that this Hybrid is deeply in the money Hybrid, right? So there's maybe some economic incentive. There may also be some political incentive to do so. So as a fair guidance, I think you should look at a probability-weighted fully diluted basis, if that makes sense.

Jaafar Mestari

analyst
#22

That makes a lot of sense. And then just to clarify, is that EUR 500 million plus EUR 420 million, is that what you consider to be significantly lower than the press reports? Or is this because you've had to upsize since your thinking in early October?

Peter Krueger

executive
#23

Yes. As I said, Jaafar, I think the optionality from the TUI side in terms of financing instruments becoming available has increased significantly, right? I mean you've also maybe tracked our CDS development. So also, the CDS has come down significantly also today on back of the announcement. And as regards equity, I mean, if you take a look of EUR 500 million capital increase plus EUR 420 million of hybrid, that brings you alone to EUR 800 million -- to EUR 920 million, which is ballpark in the area of EUR 1 billion. And then if you add the Hybrid II, as you say, you get to EUR 1.2 billion, which is, again, ballpark to the numbers you quoted before.

Jaafar Mestari

analyst
#24

And if I'm allowed a last one, second question on, ultimately, what's the ideal financing structure for this business at the moment, something that's really helpful in your emergency financing and the KfW financing is that it's basically just on the same terms as your RCF, and it'd be beautiful if you could have as big an RCF as you wanted. But realistically, once you turn to the commercial banking market to refinance this package in due time, do you think you can obtain an RCF for the group that's bigger than EUR 1.5 billion, which is what you had pre-COVID? Or will you have to refinance some of that in longer-term debt instruments and that may not be optimal?

Peter Krueger

executive
#25

Yes. If I take that question, Jaafar, I think it may be a combination of both, right? Clearly, both is an option. Time will tell, right? I mean the market is always right. Let's look at the developments of our CDS, of the company, of the business in the next 6 to 8 months. But you're also making a good point, of course. I mean while we have a maturity of EUR 722 million, which seems very far away. Of course, we have to look at the refinancing of our financing instruments a lot earlier and, of course, we will keep you updated and posted on our thinking there. And as I said, it may be a combination of both depending on prevailing market conditions.

Friedrich Joussen

executive
#26

And I think -- Peter, I think it gives us also the time to look at our balance sheet structure in general. And I mean that it's equally important. When you look at the balance sheet, I think it's important. And we have enough means, I think, through M&A or other instruments to actually take the actions which are needed.

Operator

operator
#27

Next question comes from the line of Nicolas Goden from Alexco.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#28

I just wanted to understand a little bit better the conversion rights of the silent participation number one. I mean, because obviously, it says that there are termination rights that you guys have if you can repay all the other loans. But is there still sort of a right for the German government to effectively convert at any point if they sort of desire to do so. And it's safe -- the financial incentive is to do so if the share price is higher than EUR 1, substantially higher as we sort of -- can sort of -- as it is now at the very least, and I imagine it will be quite higher.

Peter Krueger

executive
#29

Yes. I mean I think -- as you said, right, I mean, the EUR 420 million there. So basically, the way to look at Hybrid I is that it's kept by 2 data points: one is the EUR 420 million, the other data point is 25% plus 1 share. So the government cannot go higher than that at any time. So these 2 caps will apply. You can see that the conversion rights are at EUR 1 subscription price, which is actually the same net price as for the capital increase. And as you pointed out, I mean, this is an American style auction, right? So it's fully convertible up until the decision of the government to do so. So therefore, the conversion rights are with the government.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#30

And I think what you were saying before is that there is -- I mean, certainly a political incentive to convert, I suppose, and a financial incentive to convert, say, the share price is 2, 3, 4 years, basically, right? Because it's obviously a German tax payers' money.

Peter Krueger

executive
#31

Yes. I mean, as I said before, we cannot speak on behalf of the government, but for your models, I mean, I think it's prudent to assume a probability-weighted dilution from that instrument. That's my personal view.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#32

And the 25% plus 1 limit, is it for both the convertibles, meaning this one and the one from the previous package as well, which I think at 7%, 9% and additional EUR 2.56 or something?

Friedrich Joussen

executive
#33

It's aggregated.

Peter Krueger

executive
#34

It's aggregated.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#35

Aggregated, I suppose. Okay. But obviously, the other one is the higher strike price. So in a way, it's more likely to be converted than the other one, I suppose?

Peter Krueger

executive
#36

Yes, the first one -- Fritz...

Friedrich Joussen

executive
#37

Peter, you go ahead, please.

Peter Krueger

executive
#38

Yes. In the first one, while you mentioned it right, in the first one, there's a dilution protection that takes down the strike price from EUR 2.56 to EUR 1 as well if there's a capital reduction to EUR 1. So there's also right from the government to convert the 150 million bond plus 1, I mean, the bonds into TUI equity.

Friedrich Joussen

executive
#39

But the total shareholding of the state will not be above 25% plus 1.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#40

And just a last question on my end would be...

Friedrich Joussen

executive
#41

And maybe the first one, I think, Peter, it also can be traded, right? I mean that's -- so there might be a dilution, but not by the state, if I recall it correctly, right?

Peter Krueger

executive
#42

Yes, that's true. But you're right, Fritz, I mean, the important point is both together cannot lead to a higher shareholding than 25%.

Friedrich Joussen

executive
#43

Okay.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#44

And just a last question, it's -- so we have the support from the largest shareholder, even in excess of its position, I guess, you have 2 other sort of large noninstitutional shareholders, let's say. Is there an indication that they are also going to support the rights issue?

Friedrich Joussen

executive
#45

Yes. Can I -- maybe I take that. I mean, of course, we have a lot of discussion. And at the end of the day, the good thing is everybody believes in the future of the company. Now when you look at Riu, for example, there are -- because they have [ 3.1% ], there are better ways for them to support the company than potentially buy shares or not. I mean when you look at, for example, our trading agreements we have with the hotels and commitment agreements with the hotels, I mean, the important point is liquidity. And of course, when you just calculate it, you see that -- I mean, Riu is a shareholder in the company for what 30 years or so. I mean they are staying around for such a long time. They don't need to do a commitment. I'm not here to say they would or wouldn't. But when you look at our commercial deals right now, payment, hotel payments and so on, these companies are strongly behind. These companies are strongly behind the company, the TUI company itself.

Operator

operator
#46

Next question comes from the line of Cristian Nedelcu from UBS.

Cristian Nedelcu

analyst
#47

Just 2 questions left from my side. Firstly, on the sort of the guaranteed credit facility, the EUR 400 million, if I understand well, you've explained it that it sort of replaces some restricted cash. But could you elaborate a bit more on this restricted cash? Is part of it to the regulators? Is part of it, I think you mentioned, to your suppliers? Or any more color? And is it EUR 400 million of restricted cash as of today? Or you expect -- it is lower today, but do you expect that to increase? And my second and last question, if I may. This deal definitely shores up the liquidity position. And on my estimates, at the end of December, you'll have probably EUR 2 billion of liquidity, which is actually a little bit better than the EUR 1.8 billion of liquidity that you had in December 2019. But I guess, my question is, could you elaborate on the company plans in terms of actually reducing your gross leverage from here going onwards? Do you still have in place the 2.25 to 3.0x gross leverage target? And if you can elaborate a little bit on the means and timeline of bringing the gross leverage towards whatever the current targets are?

Birgit Conix

executive
#48

On the gross leverage, we keep our target, that is, 2.25 to 3x. But in terms of more color to that and numbers, I suggest, again, sorry for that, that we take that question, like, next week, when we will be able to go into a bit more detail. And then on the collaterals, these are, like, cash collaterals from, let's say, also credit card companies, but also travel bonds. And this is -- has to do actually with, yes, just the current situation that we are in, but this package really offers the opportunity to unlock the cash. So that is actually great news.

Cristian Nedelcu

analyst
#49

Understood. Just to be clear, so the liquidity number that you present in the slides today that excludes any sort of restricted cash. So that is separated from the liquidity number. Is my understanding correct?

Birgit Conix

executive
#50

Yes, that is correct. So when we talk about liquidity, that means there is no restricted cash in that number.

Operator

operator
#51

The next question comes from the line of Michele Fiumara from Helikon.

Michele Fiumara

analyst
#52

I'm sorry, my questions have been asked -- have been answered.

Operator

operator
#53

There are no further questions in the queue. So I'll hand back over to your host for any closing remarks.

Friedrich Joussen

executive
#54

So thank you, everybody. I think this day is a great day for the company. We have worked hard in order to get this financing in place, which addresses not only liquidity but also the balance -- addresses the balance sheet as well. And let's keep fingers crossed for year-end trading, and I'm very happy that we will talk just a week from now about year-end and other trading updates. Thank you very much and have a great evening.

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