Specialist tour operator group Travelzest has agreed with Barclays Banks to defer a repayment of £620,000 until the end of the month as it continues discussions with potential buyers.
The capital repayment was due on May 31, but with Travelzest in negotiations with banks in the UK and Canada about its financing requirements that has been deferred to June 30.
In a statement on its website the company said: “Travelzest has been reviewing its financing needs and has been in discussions with several banks in both the UK and Canadian markets to identify the best commercial terms available to the company.
“Discussions with one bank are now at an advanced stage. The likely terms of the proposed new facility are more favourable to the company than those in the existing facility.”
As well as deferring the repayment Barclays was said to have also agreed “a waiver from certain covenants agreed under the terms of the existing facility agreement which were due to be tested at 31 May 2011”.
Updating on a potential offer for all of the firm’s share capital, the statement continued: “On 19 April 2011 the company announced that it was in the very early stages of discussions over a potential offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of the company.
“The company confirms today that it is still in discussions in relation to the Potential Offer however there can be no certainty that the talks will result in an offer being made for the company. A further announcement on both the Company’s debt facilities and on the Potential Offer will be made as and when appropriate.”
As well as traditional tour operators like naturist specialist Peng Travel, Best of Morocco and Captivating Cuba, Travelzest also has a number of online retail interests including itravel2000.com in Canada and flight.co.uk, which its website says is “being redeveloped”.
It has admitted that its UK businesses have not been faring as well as its Canadian interests and has recently undergone a restructure in the UK consolidating its operations into one headquarters and making redundancies.