Gibson Custom Jimmy Page Number Two Les Paul
Legendary guitar manufacturer Gibson may be going down if the commpany fails to meet demands from its creditors:
Gibson Brands, Inc. today announced that the company made a $16.6 million coupon payment to holders of its $375 million, 8.875% senior secured notes due 2018.
Nashville Post reporter Geert De Lombaerde about the financial hassle crippling the company:
That simple statement issued a week ago — at all of 26 words, it’s less than a quarter the length of Gibson’s boilerplate company description that accompanied it — suggests a business-as-usual tone of a company taking care of its contractual commitments.
But the situation facing the iconic Nashville-based music instrument maker, which has annual revenues of more than $1 billion, is far from normal: CFO Bill Lawrence recently left the company after less than a year on the job and just six months before $375 million of senior secured notes will mature. On top of that, another $145 million in bank loans will come due immediately if those notes, issued in 2013, are not refinanced by July 23.
Besides falling on hard times, the company has been having serious criticism from musicians for issuing below par and cheap instruments, failing the high quality standards they have come to expect from a firm who have been in business since 1902.
» gibson.com
