Moody’s downgrades Forestar, notes

Moody's Investors Service said it downgraded the ratings of Forestar (USA) Real Estate Group Inc., including its corporate family rating to B2 from B1, probability of default rating to B2-PD from B1-PD and senior secured notes to B3 from B2.

The outlook was changed to negative from stable.

Moody’s said the downgrade reflects Forestar's deteriorating credit metrics as the company grapples with its energy business and the weak performance of its core land development segment. With oil prices at multi-year lows, the agency expects the company's metrics will remain under pressure in the next 12 to 18 months.

S&P lowers BMC Software view to negative

Standard & Poor's said it revised the outlook on BMC Software Inc. to negative from stable.

The agency also said it affirmed the company’s B corporate credit rating.

The outlook revision reflects continued deterioration in BMC's credit metrics and free cash-flow generation subsequent to the company’s leveraged buyout in 2013, S&P said.

Although S&P said it does expect improvements in the company's product-bookings trends and stronger renewal opportunities in fiscal 2017 to improve its credit metrics and cash flow, there is considerable uncertainty as to whether these boosts will be sufficient to meaningfully reduce leverage.

S&P downgrades Abengoa

Standard & Poor’s said it lowered the long-term corporate credit rating on Abengoa SA to SD (selective default) from CCC-, along with its short-term corporate credit rating to SD from C.

The agency also said it affirmed the rating on the senior unsecured notes issued by Abengoa, Abengoa Finance SAU and Abengoa Greenfield SA at CCC-. The recovery rating on these notes was unchanged at 4, indicating 30% to 50% expected default recovery.

The downgrades reflect Abengoa’s failure to pay scheduled maturities under its €750 million euro commercial-paper program.

On Dec. 10, Abengoa said it is undergoing a debt-restructuring process that caused it to temporarily suspend certain financial commitments, S&P said.

Abengoa confirmed that none of the above-mentioned unpaid amounts are larger than the group’s cross-default materiality threshold of €30 million, the agency said.

S&P said it believes the group has not defaulted on any coupon due under its rated senior unsecured notes.

S&P downgrades Magnum Hunter

Standard & Poor’s said it lowered the corporate credit rating on Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. to D from CCC-.

The agency also said it lowered the rating on the company’s second-lien term loan to D from CCC and issue-level rating on its senior unsecured debt to D from C.

The recovery rating on the second-lien debt remains at 2, reflecting 70% to 90% expected default recovery.

The recovery rating on the senior notes remains at 6, reflecting 0 to 10% expected default recovery.

The downgrades follow news that Magnum Hunter filed voluntary petitions for restructuring under Ch. 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, S&P said.

Magnum Hunter also announced its entry into a restructuring support agreement with lenders that hold, in the aggregate, about 75% of the company’s debt, the agency said.

The restructuring support agreement provides for debtor-in-possession financing in the form of a $200 million senior secured term loan that will be backstopped by lenders who are parties to the agreement, S&P said.

The restructuring agreement contemplates the debt-to-equity conversion of substantially all of the company’s debt upon emergence from the bankruptcy process, the agency added.

Moody’s drops Magnum Hunter, loan, notes

Moody's Investors Service said it downgraded Magnum Hunter Resources Corp.’s probability of default rating to D-PD from Caa3-PD, corporate family rating to Ca from Caa3, senior secured second-lien term loan rating to Ca from B3 and senior unsecured note rating to C from Ca.

The negative outlook and the SGL-4 speculative grade rating were maintained.

These actions were prompted by a Dec. 15 announcement that Magnum Hunter and certain of its wholly owned subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the state of Delaware.

S&P lowers Novafives

Standard & Poor’s said it lowered the long-term corporate credit rating on Novafives to B+ from BB-.

The agency also said it lowered the rating on the company’s super senior revolving credit facility to BB- and senior secured notes to B+.

The outlook is stable.

The ratings reflect continued weakness in the company’s end markets, particularly in the energy and commodity sectors, S&P said.

This has resulted in forecast credit metrics weakening to a B+ rating level from BB-, S&P said.

The company’s operating performance also will remain hampered by lower volumes in its metals, energy, aerospace and special machining divisions as customers scale back or delay capital expenditure due to volatile energy- and commodity-markets, the agency said.

Fitch lifts Bank of Ireland, Allied Irish

Fitch Ratings said it upgraded Bank of Ireland’s long-term issuer default rating to BBB- from BBB-, along with its short-term issuer default rating of F3 from B.

The agency also upgraded Allied Irish Banks plc’s long-term issuer default rating to BB+ from BB. Allied Irish’s short-term issuer default rating also was affirmed at B.

The outlook is positive.

The upgrades reflect on-going improvements in these banks’ asset quality, business prospects, profitability and capitalization, Fitch said.

Asset quality is a factor considered to be of high importance for both banks’ ratings, the agency added.

But, both banks continue to hold large stocks of impaired and other problem loans, Fitch said.

While the agency said it believes the banks are comfortably reserved, the problem loans remain high as a proportion of overall lending.

Moody’s raises SPCM notes to Ba2

Moody's Investors Service said it affirmed the corporate family rating and probability of default rating of SPCM SA, the holding company for SNF Floerger group, at Ba2 and Ba2-PD, respectively.

Concurrently, the agency upgraded the $250 million senior notes due 2022 to Ba2 from Ba3.

The outlook was revised to stable from positive.

The new Ba2 rating on the notes is in line with the corporate family rating, as debt that ranks equal with it now accounts for the vast majority of the capital structure after the revolving credit facility (unrated) was upsized and €400 million of notes due 2020 were replaced with €550 million notes due 2023 earlier this year.

S&P affirms Treehouse, loans on positive watch

Standard & Poor's said it affirmed the BB corporate credit rating on Treehouse Foods Inc. and removed the rating from CreditWatch with negative implications.

The agency also said it affirmed the BB rating on the company’s existing $400 million 4 7/8% senior unsecured notes due 2022 and removed the rating from CreditWatch with negative implications.

The 3 recovery rating, which indicates 50% to 70% expected default recovery, is unchanged.

S&P also said it revised the CreditWatch listing to positive from negative on the BB rating on the company’s existing $900 million revolver due 2019, $200 million term loan A-1 due 2019 and $300 million term loan A due 2021.

The outlook is stable.

TreeHouse recently announced that it entered into an agreement to acquire the ConAgra Foods Inc. for $2.7 billion, the agency said.

The company expects to close the transaction during the first quarter of 2016, funding it with a secured $1.025 billion incremental term loan A, $775 million of senior unsecured notes and $1 billion in new equity.

The positive watch reflects an expectation that the debt will become secured obligations when the transaction is launched and have an improved recovery position ahead of the unsecured notes, S&P said.

The 3 recovery rating on the debt is unaffected. The agency said it will review these issue-level ratings after the company’s launch of its new proposed debt.

The acquisition is expected to improve TreeHouse's competitive advantage with increased scale, S&P said.

But there is near-term integration risk, given the size of the transaction and based on an estimated leverage of about 4.5x, which is above previous expectations, the agency said.

S&P rates Fortress B

Standard & Poor’s said it assigned a B corporate credit rating to Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors LLC.

The outlook is stable.

The stable outlook reflects an expectation that the company’s underlying leasing operations will continue to provide steady cash flow with consolidated funds from operations to debt in the 20% range, S&P said.

The company also expects to have adequate liquidity to fund its capital-spending program as it grows its infrastructure asset base, the agency said.

Moody’s could lower U.S. E&P companies

Moody's Investors Service said it placed the ratings of several U.S. exploration and production (E&P) companies and their rated subsidiaries on review for downgrade.

The companies include: Anadarko Finance Co.; Anadarko Petroleum Corp.; Antero Resources Corp.; Apache Corp.; Apache Finance Canada Corp.; Apache Finance Canada II Corp.; Denbury Resources Inc.; EP Energy LLC; EQT Corp.; Hess Corp.; Hilcorp Energy I, LP; Hunt Oil Co.; Kerr-McGee Corp.; National Fuel Gas Co.; Occidental Petroleum Corp.; Pioneer Natural Resources Co.; SM Energy Co.; Union Pacific Resources Group Inc.; Unit Corp.; WPX Energy, Inc.; Burlington Resources Finance Co.; Burlington Resources, Inc.; Cimarex Energy Co.; Concho Resources Inc.; Conoco Funding Co.; ConocoPhillips; ConocoPhillips Canada Funding Co. I; ConocoPhillips Canada Funding Co. II; ConocoPhillips Canada Resources Ltd.; ConocoPhillips Co.; ConocoPhillips Qatar Funding Ltd.; Continental Resources, Inc.; Energen Corp.; EOG Resources, Inc.; Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp.; Louisiana Land & Exploration Co.; Marathon Oil Corp.; Murphy Oil Corp.; Newfield Exploration Co.; Noble Energy, Inc.; Polar Tankers, Inc.; QEP Resources, Inc.; Range Resources Corp.; Southwestern Energy Co.; Tosco Corp.; and Whiting Petroleum Corp.

"Industry conditions have weakened further with oil and natural gas prices at multi-year lows," Moody's senior vice president Pete Speer said in a news release.

"E&P companies will be stressed for a longer period with much lower cash flows, difficulty selling assets and limited capital markets access."

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