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Guitar Center Announces Comprehensive Agreement to Extend Debt Maturity

via Business Wire

Guitar Center, Inc. (together with its affiliates, “Guitar Center,” or the “Company”) today announced that it has entered into an agreement with an ad hoc group of investors representing more than 70% of its outstanding 8.50% Senior Secured Notes due January 2026 (the “Senior Secured Notes”) to implement a transaction to exchange such notes for new first-lien senior secured notes due January 2029 (such exchange, the “Senior Secured Notes Exchange”). The three-year maturity extension of the Senior Secured Notes is designed to extend the Company’s liquidity runway and provide the time necessary to deliver on its business plan. The Company has separately announced today that it has commenced an exchange offer and consent solicitation to all holders of its Senior Secured Notes to effectuate the Senior Secured Notes Exchange. The Company expects the Senior Secured Notes Exchange to close in August 2025, subject to the terms and conditions thereof.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Guggenheim Securities, LLC served as legal and financial advisors to Guitar Center. Paul Hastings LLP and Houlihan Lokey, Inc. served as legal and financial advisors to certain investors.

About Guitar Center

Guitar Center is the leading retailer of musical instruments, lessons, repairs and rentals in the U.S. With more than 300 stores across the U.S. and one of the top direct sales websites in the industry, Guitar Center has helped people make music for more than 60 years. Guitar Center also provides customers with various musician-based services, including Guitar Center Lessons, where musicians of all ages and skill levels can learn to play a variety of instruments in many music genres, GC Repairs, an on-site maintenance and repairs service, and GC Rentals, a program offering easy rentals of instruments and other sound reinforcement gear. Additionally, Guitar Center’s sister brands include Music & Arts, which operates more than 250 stores specializing in band & orchestral instruments for sale and rental, serving teachers, band directors, college professors, parents and students, and Musician’s Friend, a leading direct marketer of musical instruments in the United States. For more information about Guitar Center, please visit guitarcenter.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain “forward-looking statements,” including, without limitation, statements regarding the consummation of the Senior Secured Notes Exchange and related transactions and the implementation of our business plan. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “potential,” “seek,” “should,” “think,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions, or they may use future dates. All of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are subject to assumptions, risks and uncertainties that may change at any time, including, without limitation, our ability to obtain the required participation from noteholders in the Senior Secured Notes Exchange and satisfaction of terms and conditions thereof, our ability to consummate the Senior Secured Notes Exchange and related transactions, general market and economic conditions and impact of any new tariffs on goods that we import. Readers are therefore cautioned that actual results could differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. We base these forward-looking statements on our current expectations, plans and assumptions that we have made in light of our experience in the industry, as well as our perceptions of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors we believe are appropriate under the circumstances. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as expressly required by law. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

No Offer or Solicitation

This press release is not intended to and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to subscribe for or buy, or an invitation to purchase or subscribe for, any securities, or the solicitation of any vote or approval in any jurisdiction in connection with the Senior Secured Notes Exchange or otherwise, nor shall there be any sale, issuance or transfer of securities in any jurisdiction in contravention of applicable law.

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