Moody's upgrades Ardagh

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded Ardagh Glass Group plc's corporate family rating to B2 from B3, its €126.25 million senior PIK notes due 2015 to Caa1 (LGD5, 89%) from Caa3 and Ardagh Glass Finance BV's €175 million senior notes due 2013 to B3 (LGD4, 62%) from Caa2. The agency also assigned a B2 probability-of-default rating to the company.

This concludes the review for downgrade begun on March 12 after the company announced its intention to acquire the European glass activities of Rexam plc, and the outlook is stable. The acquisition remains subject to approval from Polish competition authorities, and financing is expected to include an additional €300 million of senior notes, a roughly €298 million senior secured term debt facility and a new €150 million secured working capital revolving facility.

The agency said the upgrade was supported by the stabilization of Ardagh's declining operating performance in the first quarter - which Moody's attributed to sustainable factors including volume growth, cost saving actions and more flexible pricing structures - and by the upcoming acquisition of Rexam's glass assets, which is designed to increase the company's market presence and regional diversification and offers synergy potential.

© 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.