S&P ups Parts Holding Europe

S&P said it raised its ratings on Parts Holding Europe SAS and its senior secured notes to B from B- and its super senior revolver to BB- from B+.

“PHE's robust and steady operating performance supports our upgrade. We anticipate the company's revenue to reach the €2 billion mark in 2022 on continued international expansion and solid organic growth (6% for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2021, compared with the same period in 2019). We forecast revenue growth of 7%-9% in 2022 (from 13%-15% in 2021) as the company maintains its leading position in France's auto independent aftermarket and further increases its revenue base in other countries such as Spain, Italy and Belgium,” S&P said in a press release.

Concurrently, the agency said it placed PHE’s ratings on CreditWatch with positive implications. The placement follows the D'Ieteren Group’s plan to acquire the company from Bain Capital for an enterprise value of €1.7 billion. The group plans to fund the deal with its own liquidity.

“The proposed transaction could provide further uplift to PHE's stand-alone credit profile (SACP) if we assess D'Ieteren's creditworthiness as higher than PHE's and that PHE could receive some support from the group in times of stress,” S&P said.

The agency said it plans to resolve the CreditWatch once the deal closes, expected in the second half of 2022.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.