Moody’s drops Samson, loans, notes

Moody's Investors Service said it downgraded Samson Investment Co.’s corporate family rating to B3 from B1, its second-lien term loan rating to B2 from B1 and its senior unsecured notes rating to Caa1 from B3.

The ratings were placed under review for downgrade.

The agency also assigned a speculative grade liquidity rating of SGL-4.

"The ratings downgrade and review for downgrade reflect weakness in margins, cash flow and asset value, which have contributed to increased leverage, and have pressured Samson's liquidity," Moody's vice president Andrew Brooks said in a news release.

"While Samson appears to have options with which to augment its liquidity, debt leverage is likely to remain unduly elevated until uncertainty in the current commodity price down-cycle is resolved. Samson's efforts to meaningfully high-grade its producing portfolio thereby generating improved margins and cash flow, which it has been attempting to achieve through select asset divestitures and acquisitions, is likely to confront further obstacles in the current market environment."

S&P cuts Delta’s Northwest Airlines

Standard & Poor's said it lowered its ratings on the Northwest Airlines Inc. 2001-1 class A1 enhanced equipment trust certificates to BBB from A+ and on the class B certificates to BB+ from BBB.

Northwest merged into Delta Air Lines Inc. in 2008.

The downgrade reflects the particular circumstances of these certificates and does not affect any other Delta Air Lines ratings, Moody’s said.

Fitch: Kleen Energy outlook negative

Fitch Ratings said it has affirmed at BB the ratings for Kleen Energy Systems, LLC’s $435 million term loan A due 2018, of which $244 million is outstanding, and $295 million term loan B due 2024, of which $268.4 million is outstanding.

The outlook is negative.

The negative outlook reflects the uncertain volatility of Kleen's cost structure and dependence on favorable operating performance to pay deferred target amortization, the agency said.

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, 1½-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.

DBRS drops Tim Hortons

DBRS Ltd. said it has downgraded the issuer rating of Tim Hortons Inc. to BB (low) and its senior unsecured debt to B with a recovery rating of RR6.

The trends are stable.

This action follows the company’s announcement that it has received regulatory approval for and its shareholders have voted in favor of the proposed transaction to create a new global quick-service restaurant leader that would own both Tim Hortons and Burger King Worldwide, Inc. under a new parent company, Restaurant Brands International, the agency stated.

DBRS said it has removed the ratings from under review with negative implications.

Fitch lifts Priory notes

Fitch Ratings said it has upgraded Priory Group No. 3 plc's senior notes to BB+/RR1 from BB/RR2.

The ratings have been removed from rating watch positive, on which they were placed on Oct. 17.

At the same time, Fitch said it has affirmed Priory's long-term issuer default rating at B+ with a stable outlook and the revolving credit facility and senior secured notes ratings at BB+/RR1.

The upgrade of the senior notes reflects Fitch's expectation of improved recoveries for senior noteholders assuming a default scenario, following the completion of the sale and leaseback transaction for six acute psychiatric hospitals as per the terms announced in October and the subsequent repayment of £244.7 million of prior-ranking senior secured notes due 2018.

All other ratings remain unaffected.

S&P might cut Bass Pro

Standard & Poor's said it placed its BB- corporate credit rating on Bass Pro Group LLC on CreditWatch with negative implications.

The agency also placed its BB- issue-level rating on Bass Pro's $1.15 billion term loan due 2019 on CreditWatch with negative implications.

"The CreditWatch placement follows Bass Pro's announcement that it had entered into an agreement to buy Fishing Holdings LLC for an undisclosed amount," S&P credit analyst Kristina Koltunicki said in a news release. "In our view, the proposed acquisition modestly strengthens the company's business risk profile."

Moody’s might lower DreamWorks

Moody's Investors Service said it placed DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc.'s Ba2 corporate family rating, Ba2-PD probability of default rating and Ba3 senior unsecured debt rating on review for downgrade.

The speculative grade liquidity rating was lowered to SGL-3 from SGL-2.

Moody’s said this action reflects sustained weaker than expected operating trends at the company's feature film segment, which accounts for over 70% of total revenues, resulting in increased debt-to-EBITDA and deterioration in its liquidity position.

The review for downgrade also reflects the agency’s concerns over DreamWorks' ability to enhance EBITDA and free cash flows over the intermediate-term such that credit metrics are on a trajectory to improve to levels commensurate with its current credit ratings.

S&P rates Cregstar loans B, CCC+

Standard & Poor's said it assigned its B long-term corporate credit rating to Cregstar Bidco Ltd.

The outlook is stable.

At the same time, the agency assigned a B issue rating to the $25 million credit facility and $185 million first-lien term loan issued by Cregstar Finance Ltd. The recovery ratings are 3, indicating an expectation of meaningful (50%-70%) recovery prospects in the event of a payment default.

S&P also assigned a CCC+ issue rating to the $90 million second-lien term loan issued by Cregstar Finance. The recovery rating on the notes is 6, indicating an expectation of negligible (0%-10%) recovery in the event of a payment default.

According to the agency, Cregstar’s ratings are constrained by its small size, product concentration and the presence of contract cancellation risk, reflected in the business risk profile assessment of "weak." The group's financial sponsor ownership, with adjusted leverage of around 6 times over the next 12-18 months, underpins S&P’s "highly leveraged" financial risk profile assessment.

S&P expects Cregstar’s funds from operations cash interest coverage to be close to 3 times, which supports the b anchor rating.

Fitch: Symetra outlook negative

Fitch Ratings said it has affirmed the A+ insurer financial strength rating on Symetra Life Insurance Co. as well as all ratings for Symetra Financial Corp., including the issuer default rating at A- and all outstanding debt issues.

The outlook has been revised to negative.

Fitch said that its affirmation of Symetra's ratings reflects the company's strong balance sheet, consistent and diversified earnings, moderate financial leverage and lower-risk products.

The ratings also consider Symetra's lack of significant scale compared to other highly rated life insurers and the company's reliance on its niche group medical stop-loss business, which generates a significant but sometimes volatile source of earnings, and moderate profitability compared to similarly rated peers, the agency noted.

S&P revises 4L Technologies to negative

Standard & Poor's said it affirmed its B+ corporate credit rating on 4L Technologies Inc. and revised the outlook to negative from stable.

At the same time, the agency affirmed its B+ issue-level rating on the company's $760 million senior secured term loan due 2020 and $65 million revolving credit facility due 2019. The recovery rating remains 3, indicating an expectation for meaningful (50% to 70%, at the low end of the range) recovery in the event of payment default.

"The outlook revision on 4L reflects weak operating performance during the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2014, mostly related to higher-than-expected costs in its wireless segment, and as a result, we expect leverage to increase to the 6x area over the next few quarters," S&P credit analyst Christian Frank said in a news release.

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