S&P assigns Sun Media loan 1 recovery rating

Standard & Poor's said it affirmed its BB bank loan rating and assigned its 1 recovery rating to Sun Media Corp.'s $201 million senior secured term loan B due 2009 and to C$75 million senior secured revolving credit facility due 2008.

In addition, all ratings outstanding on Sun Media and its parent company, Quebecor Media Inc., along with the ratings on its subsidiaries Videotron Ltee and CF Cable TV Inc., including the BB- long-term corporate credit rating, were affirmed. The outlook is stable.

S&P said the ratings on Quebecor Media, one of Canada's largest media companies, are based on the credit risk profile of the company and its consolidated subsidiaries, including Videotron and Sun Media. Both Videotron (a leading cable distributor in Quebec and third-largest in Canada) and Sun Media (second-largest newspaper publisher in Canada) are rated the same as the parent company, Quebecor Media.

The ratings on Quebecor Media largely reflect its aggressive financial profile, high debt leverage, intense competition, and cyclical industry fundamentals in the company's newspaper division, the agency said. These factors are partially offset by Quebecor Media's solid market position in newspapers and cable, which together account for about 72% of consolidated revenues and 83% of consolidated operating income for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2004.

© 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.