S&P lifts McDermott

Standard & Poor's said it raised the corporate credit rating on McDermott International Inc. and its subsidiaries J. Ray McDermott SA and Babcock & Wilcox Cos. to BB+ from BB.

The agency upgraded Babcock's $400 million senior secured credit facilities to BBB and affirmed the 1 recovery rating. S&P also upgraded J. Ray's $800 million senior secured credit facilities to BB+ and affirmed the 3 recovery rating.

The outlook is positive.

According to S&P, the upgrades were driven by McDermott's strong operating performance in 2007, impressive backlog across all three of its business units and conservative financial leverage.

The rating on McDermott reflects its weak business risk profile and the highly cyclical and competitive marine construction business at J. Ray, which is partially offset by the more stable businesses at Babcock, the agency said.

McDermott's adjusted debt-to-EBITDA ratio remains under 0.5 times.

© 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.