Moody’s rates Wolverine notes Ba3

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned a Ba3 rating to Wolverine World Wide, Inc.'s proposed $250 million senior unsecured notes due 2026.

The company's Ba2 corporate family rating, Ba2-PD probability of default rating, SGL-1 speculative grade liquidity rating and stable outlook remain unchanged. The Ba3 rating assigned to the existing 6 1/8% senior unsecured notes is also unchanged, and will be withdrawn upon successful closing of the proposed refinancing transaction.

Proceeds will be used to redeem a portion of the company’s existing $375 million 6 1/8% senior unsecured notes due 2020. The remaining amount of existing notes will be redeemed using borrowings under Wolverine's unrated senior secured credit facilities, which will include a proposed $150 million incremental senior secured term loan and proposed $100 million incremental senior secured revolver.

"While debt and leverage will increase very modestly, the transaction is a credit positive because it will extend the company's debt maturity profile and likely reduce cash interest expense," Moody's analyst Mike Zuccaro said in a news release.

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