Moody's cuts Gopher

Moody's Investors Service said it downgraded Gopher Resource, LLC’s ratings, including the corporate family and senior secured ratings to Caa1 from B2 and probability of default rating to Caa1-PD from B2-PD.

Moody's also changed the outlook to negative from ratings under review. This concludes the review for downgrade started on April 13, the agency said.

“The rating action reflects Gopher's high financial leverage (above 8x, Moody's adjusted debt-to-EBITDA) and limited liquidity. This constrains the company's flexibility as it contends with the additional strain of the ongoing regulatory investigation into excess lead/toxin exposure to workers at one of its two plants, the related expenses and potential for lawsuits, as well as the reputational impact,” Moody’s said in a press release.

The outlook indicates the uncertainty around the Tampa plant investigation’s outcome, Moody’s said.

© 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.