Salton Mulls Ways to Improve Liquidity

NEW YORK – Small appliance maker Salton Inc. (SFP) on Monday said it is reviewing options to improve liquidity and operations and also completed an exchange that reduces its debt by $66.1 million

Salton, maker of the George Foreman (search) electric grill and other appliances, is still looking at the potential sale of assets or businesses, creation of new foreign debt, debt securities repurchases and further cost cuts, Chief Executive Leonhard Dreimann said in a statement.

Under the previously announced debt deal, Salton received the consent of holders of a majority of some notes to eliminate all restrictive covenants and certain events of default contained in the debt.

In June, Salton asked corporate bond investors to restructure the terms of their bonds in an attempt to avoid bankruptcy. The company has been cutting costs as it struggles with waning demand for the George Foreman grills and a high debt load.

Salton said it accepted for exchange about $75.2 million of its outstanding 10-3/4% senior subordinated notes due 2005, or 60.1 percent of the outstanding notes, and about $90.1 million, or 60.1 percent, of the outstanding 12-1/4% senior subordinated notes due 2008 that were validly tendered.

Salton, based in Lake Forest, Ill., also issued about $99.2 million in new second lien notes, over 2 million common shares and 135,230 series C preferred shares.

Shares of Salton, which traded as high as $7.45 last September, fell as low as 99 cents in May amid fears of tough U.S. market conditions for its products and credit issues. The shares have rebounded since those lows and closed at $3.38 on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange (search).