S&P assigns BB to West Corp. loan

Standard & Poor's said it assigned its BB issue-level rating and 2 recovery rating to West Corp.'s proposed $250 million term loan B (TLB-11) due 2021.

The 2 recovery rating indicates an expectation for substantial recovery (70%-90%; lower half of the range) of principal in the event of payment default.

The company intends to use proceeds to redeem its outstanding term loan B (TLB-9) due 2016.

The corporate credit rating remains at BB- with a stable outlook.

West Corp.'s "fair" business risk profile assessment reflects the company's strong market position and good geographic diversity within the competitive and fragmented communication services market.

S&P said it views the company’s financial risk as "aggressive" based on its fairly high pro forma adjusted leverage of 4.9 times as of Sept. 30, which is in line with the 4 times to 5 times range associated with an "aggressive" financial risk profile.

The stable outlook is based on the agency’s expectation that the company's leverage will decrease to the mid- to high-4 times area over the next 12 months due to modest EBITDA growth and debt repayment.

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