Moody's lowers Minimax Viking

Moody's Investors Service said it downgraded the corporate family rating of Minimax Viking GmbH to B1 from Ba3.

The agency also said it downgraded the ratings on the group's senior secured credit facilities to B1 (LGD 3) from Ba3 (LGD 2) and affirmed the probability of default rating of Minimax at B1-PD.

The outlook also was revised to stable from positive.

The downgrades reflect the company's decision to distribute €552 million of dividends to its parent company, MV Holding GmbH that will use it to buy back shares held by some of its shareholders, in particular Kirkbi Invest A/S, Moody's said.

Given that additional debt load, the group's leverage ratio is projected to increase to 5.5x by the end of 2018, compared to a previous expectation of about 3.5x, the agency said.

Minimax's business profile continues to benefit from group's strong market position and high barriers to entry related to strict regulation, Moody's said.

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