S&P might lift Guala Closures

S&P said it placed its B long-term issuer credit ratings on Guala Closures SpA and parent GCL Holdings SCA on CreditWatch with positive implications.

The agency also put on CreditWatch positive the B issue rating on the €510 million senior secured notes issued by Guala. The recovery rating is 4, indicating an expectation of average recovery (rounded estimate: 45%) for debtholders in the event of a default.

S&P said the CreditWatch placement follows Space4's announcement that it will be acquiring about 69% of the share capital of Guala alongside its co-investors, Peninsula Capital and Quaestio Italian Growth Fund, which will acquire about 10% and 2% of the existing share capital, respectively, from Guala's current private equity owners.

As a result of the business combination, Guala will be listed on the STAR segment of the Italian Stock Exchange, with a free float of about 70%.

“The CreditWatch placement indicates that we could raise our rating on Guala by at least one notch once the listing and the refinancing have been completed successfully, and the financial sponsors' stakes have decreased substantially,” S&P said in a news release.

© 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.