Fitch ups Ladder Capital

Fitch Ratings said it upgraded the long-term issuer default ratings and senior unsecured debt ratings of Ladder Capital Finance Holdings LLLP and Ladder Capital Finance Corp., subsidiaries of Ladder Capital Corp. (collectively Ladder), to BB+ from BB following the closing of its $750 million unsecured notes offering. The outlook is stable.

The ratings upgrade reflects an improvement in Ladder's funding flexibility as a result of the unsecured debt issuance, as unsecured debt is expected to increase to about 39.4% of total debt on a pro forma basis as of Sept. 30, (up from 24% at Sept. 30), as Ladder's stated intention is to use debt proceeds to repay a portion of secured borrowings.

Fitch also assigned a final rating of BB+ to Ladder's $750 million, 4¼% senior secured notes due 2027. The final ratings are the same as the expected ratings assigned on Jan. 15. Following the assignment of the expected rating, Ladder announced it priced $750 million of senior unsecured notes; which was $250 million more than the previously announced offering size of $500 million. Fitch said it does not expect the upsize to have an effect on Ladder's leverage as proceeds will be used to repay secured debt.

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