Moody's rates Cerved notes B2, B3

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned a corporate family rating of B2 and probability-of-default rating of B1-PD to Cerved Technologies SpA and a provisional B2 rating (LGD4, 58%) to the group's proposed €550 million of senior secured notes and a provisional B3 rating (LGD6, 95%) to the its proposed €230 million of senior subordinated notes.

The outlook is negative.

The B2 corporate family rating is constrained by the group's relatively small size, its lack of geographic diversification and its exposure to the currently challenging operating and economic environments in Italy, Paolo Leschiutta, a Moody's vice president, said in a statement.

"Moody's views Cerved's expected financial leverage, following the proposed transaction, as relatively high for the rating category and the rating assumes a degree of deleveraging over the next twelve to eighteen months," Leschiutta said.

The rating is supported by Cerved's established role as the largest credit information provider and barriers to market entry, the agency said.

Cerved has customer diversification, and the group benefits from a degree of revenue visibility, Moody's said.

The group's business profile is offset by a relatively high financial leverage of pro forma debt-to-EBITDA ratio, adjusted for pension and leases, close to 6x.

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