S&P upgrades Springleaf

Standard & Poor’s said it raised its issuer credit rating on Springleaf Holdings Inc. to B from B- and raised the issue ratings on Springleaf’s senior unsecured debt to B- from CCC+ and on Springleaf's preferred stock to CCC from CCC-.

The outlook is stable.

Springleaf announced Thursday that the company entered into a series of transactions to sell $7.2 billion of legacy residential mortgage-backed securities, whole mortgage loans and servicing assets. The buyers of the assets will assume the securitized debt associated with the assets sold and pay a premium of roughly $575 million to $625 million, in total generating about $3 billion of cash for Springleaf.

Following the transaction, the company’s total debt to equity will improve to 3.7x from 6.7x at March 31, 2014.

“We believe the combination of an improved leverage profile and a bolstered liquidity position support the higher rating,” said S&P credit analyst Stephen Lynch in a news release.

© 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.