Adrien Aumont — It’s the end of June 2023 and, two months before, all the giants gave up on us. One after the other, for reasons that still aren’t totally clear. At that point, we no longer had any financiers and our cash reserves had almost run dry. Today, we have two letters of interest: from the French fund which will lead the investment of the OpCo and from the French public fund which will be the follower of a future structure, which will form the majority share in the AssetCo. We hope that this role will be taken by the infrastructure fund from Northern Europe. With a more than solid team, perhaps one that’s even more solid than that of the giants, we’re preparing our strategic committee. We’ll ask our historical investors to support us a little longer - until the end of this fundraising.
It’s at this moment, somewhat ironically, that a giant re-emerges in our landscape. It’s among the world leaders in the hotel industry, but has operated somewhat under the radar. It’s another small coincidence that someone at the giant has continued to fight for us internally. Even after the withdrawal of the group's leaders, this person continued to support us. In their own way, they kept Midnight Trains alive within its ranks. Until realising with their teams, all of whom volunteered to work with us, that they could support us on questions of hospitality and distribution, without going through the big bosses of the group. Better yet, they can issue us a letter of interest specifying these details. It’s a very respectable name, which will further validate our file. Who would refuse the support of such a heavyweight in the hotel industry? We’ll have time later to develop this partnership so that it suits everyone.
Romain Payet — When our committee day arrives, we’re confident. As Adrien said, we’ve come a long way. We put our team back together after losing everything, or almost everything. A team which, in many respects, is even better than the previous one. Or, at least, suits us better. It’s more in line with our vision of Midnight Trains. Our strategic committee is well aware of all this and, after an in-depth examination of this new file, the members decide to buy us much more time, until the end of January 2024. This should give us plenty of time to obtain a positive response from the Northern European infrastructure fund, to complete this arrangement and to actually complete the fundraising. We never went into detail, but there are many small administrative, technical and financial steps to take care of to complete an operation of this scale. This will follow the bank debt to raise the final amount and launch the construction of the trains. In any case, this vote of confidence from our historic shareholders is important. Even if there’s still an element of uncertainty, it seems like the start of a new chapter.
Nicolas Bargelès — What Romain didn’t say is that our investors are not only confident. They’re very excited by the solid file that we’ve managed to put together in such a short time. Starting from scratch or almost. Like you, thanks to this newsletter, they have followed all the twists and turns of the financing. They know the stages we’ve been through. They experienced the highs and lows alongside us, and the sucker punches that none of us could have predicted. Still, this new advance allows us to find a little serenity. However long the sequel may be, all that remains is to “execute,” to do what needs to be done to see things through to the end. Our first train certainly won’t be up and running tomorrow, but the financing is taking shape and that’s the main thing. We believe we have a little more time on our hands and the three of us are going on vacation based on this great accomplishment. Our hearts feel lighter, but we don’t forget that an answer is still missing. The ultimate answer.
