- Atento agrees to term sheet with certain major financial
stakeholders for at least $30
million of new financing in the near term and pathway to
restructuring support agreement
- Term sheet provides for additional $79 million upon implementation of a
comprehensive restructuring for Atento to execute its
transformation plan and drive growth
NEW
YORK, June 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Atento S.A.
(NYSE: ATTO, "Atento" or the "Company"), one of the world's largest
customer relationship management and business process outsourcing
(CRM / BPO) service providers and an industry leader in
Latin America, reports on progress
in the previously announced negotiations with certain key
stakeholders for a transaction involving a recapitalization and
deleveraging of Atento's balance sheet.
Atento and certain members of an ad hoc group of holders of
Atento's senior secured notes have agreed a term sheet for a new
interim financing of at least $30
million and a comprehensive restructuring of its balance
sheet that will significantly delever the group. The term sheet
includes $79 million of additional
capital in connection with the comprehensive restructuring. The
parties further intend for the Company's leverage to be
significantly reduced at the culmination of this process.
The new financing represents sufficient capital through to
implementation of a holistic restructuring, and certain of the
parties have agreed on a path to enter into a restructuring support
agreement and definitive documentation on the financing within two
weeks of execution of the term sheet. The Company looks forward to
working with its financial stakeholders in the weeks ahead and is
confident in achieving requisite support for the financial
restructuring. New financing is subject to conditions including
customer due diligence, and the grant of security interests.
This term sheet builds on Atento's prior announcement that the
Company has been negotiating a comprehensive restructuring of
funded and financial debt on its balance sheet to position Atento
to execute on its long-term strategic plan and to continue its
focus on its leading service to clients. Atento will be better
positioned after such a restructuring to serve its +400 blue chip
clients across sixteen countries and support global operations for
the more than 135,000 global Atento employees.
"This term sheet is a milestone for our business and represents
our partners' belief in the underlying strength of Atento's
competitive value proposition," said Dimitrius Oliveira, Chief Executive Officer of
Atento. "As we continue to enhance the capabilities of our business
operations, we also remain focused on continuing to deliver great
customer experiences through the combination of innovation,
advanced technologies and the human touch. We are immensely
grateful to our employees, customers, vendors and key stakeholders
who continue to stand by us throughout this process. With this new
infusion of capital we look forward to accelerating our
transformation and further strengthening our business for the long
term."
Atento is represented in these discussions by Houlihan Lokey and FTI Consulting as financial
advisors and Sidley Austin and
Loyens & Loeff Luxembourg, as lead legal advisors. The ad hoc
group of investors is represented by Rothschild & Co. as
financial advisor and Hogan Lovells as lead legal advisor.
About Atento
Atento is the largest provider of customer relationship
management and business process outsourcing ("CRM BPO") services in
Latin America and one of the
leading providers worldwide. Atento is also one of the leading
providers of nearshoring CRM BPO services for companies operating
in the United States. Since 1999,
the Company has developed its business model in 16 countries,
employing approximately 135,000 people. Atento has more than 400
clients, offering a wide range of CRM BPO services through multiple
channels. Atento's clients are mostly leading multinational
companies in telecommunications, banking and financial services,
healthcare, retail and public administration sectors. Atento shares
trade under the symbol ATTO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
In 2019, Atento was named one of the 25 best multinational
companies in the world and one of the best multinationals to work
for in Latin America by Great
Place to Work®. In addition, in 2021, Everest named
Atento as a "star performer". Gartner has named the Company two
consecutive years a leader in its Magic Quadrant since 2021. For
more information visit www.atento.com
Forward-Looking Statements
This report contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may,"
"should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes,"
"estimates," "predicts," "intends," "continue" or similar
terminology. These statements reflect only Atento's current
expectations and are not guarantees of future events. These
statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results and events to differ materially from those contained
in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties
include, but are not limited to; obtaining required consents from
third-parties and satisfying other conditions precedent for any
additional financing that might be outside Atento's control;
actions by Atento's lenders and other financing sources, including
any creditor actions that could impact Atento's operations;
Atento's future cash requirements; competition in Atento's highly
competitive industries; increases in the cost of voice and data
services or significant interruptions in these services; Atento's
ability to keep pace with its clients' needs for rapid
technological change and systems availability; the continued
deployment and adoption of emerging technologies; the loss,
financial difficulties or bankruptcy of any key clients; the
effects of global economic trends on the businesses of Atento's
clients; the non-exclusive nature of Atento's client contracts and
the absence of revenue commitments; security and privacy breaches
of the systems Atento uses to protect personal data; the cost of
pending and future litigation; the cost of defending Atento against
intellectual property infringement claims; extensive regulation
affecting many of Atento's businesses; Atento's ability to protect
its proprietary information or technology; service interruptions to
Atento's data and operation centers; Atento's ability to retain key
personnel and attract a sufficient number of qualified employees;
increases in labor costs and turnover rates; the political,
economic and other conditions in the countries where Atento
operates; changes in foreign exchange rates; Atento's ability to
complete future acquisitions and integrate or achieve the
objectives of its recent and future acquisitions; future
impairments of our substantial goodwill, intangible assets, or
other long-lived assets; and Atento's ability to recover consumer
receivables on behalf of its clients. Atento is also subject to
other risk factors described in documents filed by the company with
the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. These
forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which the
statements were made. Atento undertakes no obligation to update or
revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result
of new information, future events or otherwise.
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SOURCE Atento S.A.