River Advice refinances existing facilities and secures long-term funding for growth initiatives

Niederer Kraft Frey represented River Advice, the European leader in operational services for river cruises and part of UNITED WATERWAYS, on all aspects of the refinancing of River Advice’s existing credit facilities and the securing of dedicated long-term funding for its future growth initiatives. The new financing structure combines term facilities to fund the company and its growth agenda with a revolving facility to fund working capital needs, providing River Advice with a single, long-term financing solution that allows it to pursue its investment pipeline while retaining the flexibility required to manage the seasonality of the river cruise business. The facilities are jointly underwritten by UBS and Swiss Credit Partners as Mandated Lead Arrangers.

River Advice, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, is an integrated group of independent service labels on European waters, forming a white-label full-service platform for its customers. Founded in 2004 by Robert Straubhaar, the Company is the leading independent European white-label ship management and cruise services platform for inland waterways. Customers can select individual modules or outsource end-to-end operations under their own brand standards, covering administrative management, hospitality and catering, nautical and technical management, and harbour and coordination services. The Company services more than 70 river cruise vessels across Europe’s key inland waterways, manages c. 2.5m hotel nights per year and employs c. 2,600 people. River Advice is part of the wider UNITED WATERWAYS group which is the European market leader in river cruising, with over 120 ships under management.

The NKF team was led by Transactions partners Philip Spoerlé and Adrian Koller and further comprised associates Selim Loetscher and Carlotta Ulmer and junior associates Matthias Schmid and Robin Brändli (all Transactions), as well as counsel Marc Vogelsang (Tax).