S&P downgrades Belvedere

Standard & Poor's said it lowered the long-term corporate credit and senior secured debt ratings on Belvedere SA to B- from B and placed ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications.

The downgrade follows the stronger-than-anticipated default potential that Belvedere faces, based on audited 2007 financial statements, S&P said.

Ratings reflect Belvedere's highly leveraged financial profile, resulting from its debt-financed expansion strategy and the group's exposure to the low- and mid-market segments of the highly competitive, mature and consolidating French and Polish spirit and wine industries, the agency said.

Partially mitigating factors are Belvedere's increasingly diversified product mix and geographic reach following acquisitions, coupled with ownership of some brands with leading market shares in the group's Polish and French core markets, S&P said.

The issuer has about 15 times adjusted total debt to EBITDA.

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