Moody’s cuts Momentive, debt

Moody's Investors Service said it lowered the corporate family rating of Momentive Specialty Chemicals Inc. to Caa1 from B3.

In addition, the agency lowered the debt ratings of Momentive and its subsidiaries Hexion U.S. Finance Corp. and Borden Chemical Inc.: first-lien senior secured notes to B3 from B1, 1˝-lien senior secured notes to Caa2 from Caa1, second-lien notes to Caa3 from Caa2, unsecured notes to Ca from Caa2 and the speculative grade liquidity rating to SGL-3 from SGL-2.

The outlook is negative.

These actions reflect the company's high leverage and elevated capital spending on new capacity.

"Due to elevated leverage, heavy capital spending on new capacity in 2014 and 2015, and the lack of meaningful improvement in financial performance, we have lowered Momentive Specialty's rating," Moody’s senior vice president John Rogers said in a news release.

On Dec. 2, Momentive and Hexion were merged and Momentive became the obligor on the notes previously issued by Hexion. Momentive is planning on changing its name back to Hexion in early 2015.

© 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.