NEW YORK, May 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Lindblad
Expeditions Holdings, Inc. ("Lindblad") (NASDAQ: LIND) today
announced that it has acquired 80.1% of the outstanding common
stock of Natural Habitat, Inc. ("Natural Habitat" or "Nat Hab"), a leading adventure travel and
ecotourism company based in Boulder, Colorado. Natural
Habitat was previously owned by Gaiam, Inc. ("Gaiam") (NASDAQ:
GAIA), a leading brand focused on wellness and fitness, and
Ben Bressler, Natural Habitat's
Founder and President. Mr. Bressler will retain an ownership
interest of 19.9% in Nat Hab and
will continue as President of the new Lindblad subsidiary.
The transaction is expected to be accretive to earnings per share,
exclusive of any purchase accounting adjustments.
Natural Habitat is a leading adventure travel and ecotourism
company with a focus on responsible land-based travel.
Adventures include polar bear tours in Churchill, Canada, Alaskan grizzly bear adventures,
small-group Galapagos tours and African safaris. Natural
Habitat offers eco-conscious expeditions from Antarctica to Zambia with a multitude of adventures in
between. Since 2003, Natural Habitat has partnered with World
Wildlife Fund ("WWF") to offer conservation travel, sustainable
travel that directly protects nature. As part of this
transaction, WWF extended the end date of this agreement from
December 31, 2018 to December 31, 2023.
The acquisition of Nat Hab
provides Lindblad a platform for expansion into land-based
offerings with a partner that has a strong, trusted and
complementary brand and a shared focus on nature and conservation.
Lindblad expects to market its ship-based trips to Natural
Habitat's customer database while simultaneously marketing Natural
Habitat's offerings to its own customer database, expanding the
market reach of both businesses. For the year ended
December 31, 2015, Natural Habitat
realized net revenues of approximately $41
million, EBITDA of approximately $3.7
million and net income of approximately $1.5 million.
Sven-Olof Lindblad, President and
Chief Executive Officer of Lindblad, stated: "I've known and
interacted with Natural Habitat and its President, Ben Bressler, for over a decade. Knowing
our travel audience has diverse interests beyond sea-going
expeditions, Nat Hab offers a
perfect complement on land to what we do with ships. They are
a focused, quality-oriented enterprise while, at the same time,
understand the imperative for supporting important conservation
work in areas visited from both a moral and business
objective. We look forward to a productive partnership to
broaden our offerings and our impact in the world's wild
places."
Ben Bressler, Natural Habitat's
Founder and President, stated: "Natural Habitat has experienced
exceptional growth over the last several years via a focus on the
core business and our commitment to enhancing the value proposition
of our offerings. We have developed a strong relationship with
Lindblad over the years and recognize it as a leader in expedition
travel. It has a clear track record of supporting and growing its
brand. We are confident that we have found the right
strategic partner to help evolve our business and we look forward
to collaborating with Lindblad to enhance and grow the Natural
Habitat brand."
The purchase price for the 80.1% interest in Natural Habitat was
approximately $20 million and was
financed through a combination of cash on hand ($14.85 million), Lindblad stock ($2.65 million, or 264,208 shares) and a note
(approximately $2.5 million). Gaiam's
51% ownership interest in Natural Habitat was acquired for cash,
while the shares acquired from Mr. Bressler were purchased through
a combination of cash, Lindblad stock and a note. Mr.
Bressler's remaining 19.9% interest is subject to an arrangement
providing for put/call rights that generally cannot be exercised,
with certain exceptions, until 2020.
Conference Call Scheduled
Lindblad Expeditions
Holdings, Inc. will host a conference call to review the
transaction on Thursday, May 5, at
2:00 pm EDT. Investors may
listen to the conference call by dialing 1-844-378-6487 toll free
in the U.S. or 1-412-542-4182 internationally. To access the replay
please select the link below.
http://investors.expeditions.com/Events-and-Presentations
About Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, Inc.
Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, Inc. is an expedition travel company
that works in partnership with National Geographic on its
ship-based voyages to inspire people to explore and care about the
planet. The organizations work in tandem to produce innovative
marine expedition programs and to promote conservation and
sustainable tourism around the world. The partnership's
educationally oriented voyages allow guests to interact with and
learn from leading scientists, naturalists and researchers while
discovering stunning natural environments, above and below the sea,
through state-of-the-art exploration tools.
About Gaiam, Inc.
Gaiam, Inc. is a leading
lifestyle company for yoga, fitness and wellness products and
content. With a wide distribution network that consists of
approximately 38,000 retail doors, 19,000 store within stores,
5,000 category management locations, and e-commerce, Gaiam is
dedicated to making yoga, fitness and wellness accessible to all.
Gaiam TV is a global digital subscription service with
approximately 7,000 exclusive videos available for streaming and
download. Gaiam dominates the health and wellness category and owns
the largest library of conscious media.
Forward Looking Statements
Certain
matters discussed in this press release are "forward-looking
statements" intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability
established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. These forward-looking statements include our financial
projections and may also generally be identified as such because
the context of such statements will include words such as
"anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend,"
"may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "will,"
"would" or words of similar import. Similarly, statements that
describe Lindblad's financial guidance or future plans, objectives
or goals are also forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking
statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that
could cause results to differ materially from those expected,
including, but not limited to, the following: (i) changes adversely
affecting the business in which we are engaged; (ii) management of
our growth and our ability to execute on our planned growth; (iii)
general economic conditions; (iv) our business strategy and plans;
(v) compliance with applicable laws and regulations; (vi)
compliance with the financial and/or operating covenants in our
amended credit agreement; (vii) adverse publicity regarding the
cruise industry in general; (viii) loss of business due to
competition; (ix) the result of future financing efforts; (x) the
inability to meet revenue and Adjusted EBITDA projections; and (xi)
those risks described in our filings with the SEC. Stockholders,
potential investors and other readers are urged to consider these
factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements and
are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking
statements. The forward-looking statements made herein are made
only as of the date of this press release and Lindblad undertakes
no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
More detailed information about factors that may affect our
performance may be found in our filings with the SEC, which are
available at http://www.sec.gov or at
http://www.expeditions.com in the Investor Relations section
of Lindblad's website.
Investor Contact:
John T. McClain, Chief Financial
Officer
Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, Inc.
(212) 261-9008
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SOURCE Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, Inc.