A. M. Castle & Co., a global distributor of specialty metal and supply chain solutions, announced that it has reached agreement with its first-lien lending group to accelerate the Company's access to capital under its existing credit facilities to finance additional investments in inventory and expand service to its customers.

Last month, Castle announced that it projects positive adjusted EBITDA for each month of the first quarter of fiscal 2017, which was its first positive adjusted EBITDA quarter in more than three years; and that it has reached an agreement in principle with lenders holding more than 92% of its aggregate first, second, and third lien debt to complete a comprehensive financial restructuring.

President and CEO Steve Scheinkman said, "Having completed the operational restructuring that we started two years ago, we are now tackling our balance sheet, which will position Castle to return to metals industry leadership. We are pleased that our first-lien lending group has demonstrated their belief in the Castle business by accelerating access to liquidity under our existing credit facilities, which will enable us to make additional investments in inventory and expand service to our customers."

Jonathan Segal, managing director of Highbridge Capital Management, a participant in the Company's first-lien lending group, said, "We are supportive of management's successful efforts to improve the Company's customer value proposition and its cash-generating capabilities. We believe this access to additional capital will enable Castle to continue its growth and accelerate its return to profitability."

Jake Mercer, portfolio manager at Whitebox Advisors LLC, another participant in the Company's first-lien lending group, said, "We believe that Castle has made meaningful progress since the existing credit facilities were finalized in December 2016, as demonstrated by the restructuring support agreement announced on April 7. Providing early access to the liquidity will enable the Company to make additional investments in serving its customers' needs."

Scheinkman concluded, "We believe restructuring our debt will help sustain the positive performance we achieved in the first quarter of 2017, which we plan to announce fully in the coming weeks. We expect our restructuring plan will reduce our cash interest expense by more than 70%, and will move us even closer to becoming the truly agile, customer-centric Company we envisioned when we embarked on this path two years ago. We are grateful to our lending group for their partnership and willingness to support our business' evolving needs as our financial restructuring continues."