Fitch assigns College Parent BB-

Fitch Ratings said it assigned a first-time BB- long-term issuer default rating to College Parent LP (Verizon Media Group) and AP Core Holdings II, LLC and a BB+/RR1 senior secured rating to AP Core's credit facilities.

Apollo Global Management, Inc. agreed to acquire 90% of VMG from Verizon Communications, Inc. for about $5 billion. Verizon will keep the remaining 10%. Funding will include $1.5 billion of secured debt, $500 million of unsecured HoldCo debt, and $2.6 billion and $750 million of equity from Apollo and Verizon, respectively.

“Fitch views VMG's carve-out positively despite the heightened underlying challenges facing VMG's businesses. The rating is supported by the opportunity to improve the company's expense base and the resultant decline in Fitch-calculated leverage to below 2x over the rating horizon, due to expected margin improvement and debt repayment,” the agency said in a press release.

The outlook is stable.

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