Moody's lifts Koppers notes

Moody's Investors Service said it affirmed Koppers Holdings Inc.'s Ba3 corporate family rating and upgraded the senior unsecured notes to Ba3 from B1.

The agency also assigned an SGL-2 speculative grade liquidity rating to Koppers.

The action follows additional disclosure regarding Koppers' plans to finance the acquisition of Osmose's wood preservation chemicals and railroad services business. Proceeds from a new $300 million secured term loan and a $210 million draw on a new $500 million secured revolving credit facility will be used to fund the $460 million acquisition, repay existing revolver borrowings and pay transaction-related fees and expenses.

Concurrent with the transaction, the unsecured notes will be ratably secured and rank pari passu with the new secured debt.

The outlook is stable.

"The proposed transaction exhausts Koppers' capacity in the Ba3 rating for meaningful debt-funded acquisitions until it has successfully integrated this acquisition and reduced adjusted leverage below four times," Moody's assistant vice president and lead analyst for Koppers, Ben Nelson, 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.