Moody's drops Smithfield Foods

Moody's Investors Service said it lowered the long-term ratings of Smithfield Foods, Inc., including the company's corporate family rating and probability of default rating to B1 from Ba2.

The agency said that the LGD assessments are also subject to adjustment, noting that this action was based on Moody's expectation that credit metrics will remain weak in the near term, despite the anticipated receipt of proceeds from the pending sale of Smithfield's beef business, due to poor returns in the hog production business and very high leverage.

The review for possible downgrade continues pending the receipt of regulatory and other approvals for the sale of Smithfield's beef business to JBS SA, the agency said.

© 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.