Tops Markets restructures debt. (company profile)

Tops Markets restructures debt

Tops Markets Inc., which has posted more than $25 million in losses in the last two years, has sold $80 million in senior notes in partial refinancing of a 1987 leveraged buyout that took the company private for the third time in its 27-year history.

The note sale replaces a bank credit agreement between Tops Markets and several lenders, and allows the company more latitude in its financing and operations, particularly with capital outlays, said Thomas Shanahan, Tops Markets senior vice president and general counsel.

In a Form S-1 statement filed Dec. 29 with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, Tops Markets said the notes are not subordinate to any of the company's other debt and rank on equal footing with all senior debt.

"The purpose (of the note sale) was that the method of financing on the notes permitted us more flexibility," Shanahan said. …