S&P downgrades Europcar notes

Standard & Poor's said it affirmed the B+ long-term corporate credit rating on Europcar Groupe SA and assigned a final B+ long-term corporate credit rating to Europcar International SASU, a subsidiary of Europcar.

The outlook is negative.

The agency also said it revised to final from preliminary the issue rating of B+ and recovery rating of 4 assigned to the €250 million senior secured notes due 2017 of EC Finance plc, an orphan finance entity borrowing on behalf of Europcar. The 4 recovery rating indicates 30% to 50% recovery in a default.

S&P also said it lowered the issue rating on Europcar's €425 million senior subordinated secured floating-rate notes due 2013 by two notches and removed the rating from CreditWatch, where it was placed with negative implications in June. The recovery rating was revised to 6 from 4 with the 6 rating indicating 0% to 10% recovery in a default.

The agency said it further lowered the issue rating on Europcar's €375 million senior subordinated notes due 2014 to B- from B and removed the rating from CreditWatch, where it was placed with negative implications in June. The agency said it revised the recovery rating to 6 from 5.

The issue rating of BB- and recovery rating of 2 on Europcar International's €350 million revolving credit facility remain unchanged.

The affirmation reflects a view that Europcar will likely benefit from improved operating performance and that it successfully closed its refinancing over the past quarters, thereby improving its liquidity, S&P said.

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