Moody's cuts Cliffs Natural

Moody’s Investors Service said it downgraded the senior unsecured debt ratings of Cliffs Natural Resources to Ba1 from Baa3 and the senior unsecured shelf rating to provisional Ba1 from provisional Baa3 and assigned a Ba1 corporate family rating and a Ba1-PD probability of default rating.

At the same time, Moody's assigned a speculative-grade liquidity rating of SGL-1.

This concludes the review for downgrade initiated on July 25, the agency stated.

The outlook is negative.

The downgrade in the senior unsecured ratings to Ba1 and assignment of the Ba1 corporate family rating reflects its expectations that, despite Cliffs' progress in reducing costs, particularly in its Eastern Canadian and Asia Pacific iron ore operations, continued headwinds pressuring fundamentals and pricing in the iron ore and metallurgical coal industry will result in compression of debt protection metrics and increased leverage through at least 2015.

S&P lowers Imperial Metals

Standard & Poor’s said it lowered its ratings on Imperial Metals Corp. to CCC+ from B- following the breach of the company’s tailings storage facility at its Mount Polley mine in British Columbia.

The outlook is negative.

S&P also lowered its issue-level rating on the company’s senior unsecured debt to CCC+ from B-. The recovery rating on the company’s senior unsecured notes is unchanged at 4, which corresponds with average (30%-50%) recovery in S&P’s simulated default scenario.

“The downgrade of Imperial Metals follows the breach of the company’s tailings storage facility at its Mount Polley mine in British Columbia, which we believe will have a serious negative effect on the company’s cash flow and liquidity,” said S&P credit analyst Jarrett Bilous in a news release. “The cause of the breach is unknown and the mine has been placed on care and maintenance.”

Moody’s boosts Celanese

Moody’s Investors Service said it raised the corporate family rating of Celanese Corp. to Ba1 from Ba2 due to its improving financial performance and credit metrics.

Moody's also raised its ratings on Celanese U.S. Holdings LLC senior secured bank facility to Baa3 from Ba1. However, Moody's said it affirmed the ratings on Celanese U.S. Holdings senior unsecured debt at Ba2 and Celanese's speculative-grade liquidity rating at SGL-1.

The outlook is stable.

"The upgrade was triggered by the improved financial performance at Celanese over the past year," stated John Rogers, senior vice president at Moody's.

"While we expect financial performance to continue to improve, the rating will likely be capped at Ba1 until management provides financial targets for leverage that would support an investment grade rating and refinances the secured debt in its capital structure."

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.

S&P: CGG view now negative

Standard & Poor’s said it revised its outlook on CGG to negative from stable and affirmed the long-term corporate credit rating on CGG at B+.

In addition, S&P affirmed the B+ issue rating on the company’s unsecured notes. The recovery rating is 4, reflecting an expectation of average (30%-50%) recovery for noteholders in the event of a default.

S&P also affirmed the BB- issue rating on CGG’s secured credit facilities. The recovery rating on this debt is 2, indicating an expectation of substantial (70%-90%) recovery in a default scenario.

S&P said the outlook revision reflects its view that CGG’s credit metrics will be lower than S&P had anticipated under the agency’s previous base case.

S&P puts Rottapharm on watch

Standard & Poor’s said it placed its BB- long-term corporate credit rating on Rottapharm on CreditWatch with negative implications.

At the same time, S&P placed on CreditWatch negative the BB- issue rating on the €400 million senior unsecured notes due 2019 issued by Rottapharm Ltd., a subsidiary of Rottapharm. S&P also revised the recovery rating on the notes to 4 from 3, owing to a higher amount of prior-ranking liabilities, indicating an expectation of average (30%-50%) recovery in the event of a payment default.

The CreditWatch placement reflects the announced takeover bid of Rottapharm by Swedish group Meda AB.

Moody’s rates Alliant loan Ba1

Moody’s Investors Service said it has assigned a Ba1 rating to Alliant Techsystems Inc.'s $150 million term loan due 2019.

Proceeds of the term loan, along with cash on hand, helped fund the tender offer on the company's $196 million of 3% convertible senior subordinated notes due 2024 that closed on June 27.

Following the tender transaction, $12.8 million of the convertible notes remained outstanding and Alliant has commenced an offer to repurchase those notes, Moody’s said.

According to the agency, the Ba2 corporate family rating recognizes Alliant's good revenue diversity, scale and returns for the rating level against the company's recent acquisitions within its sporting goods segment.

S&P gives B+ to Dry Mix loan, B to notes

Standard & Poor’s said it assigned its B long-term corporate credit rating to Dry Mix Solutions Investissements SAS (DMS Investissements), an indirect holding company for dry mix solutions producer ParexGroup.

The outlook is stable.

At the same time, S&P assigned a B+ preliminary issue rating to DMS Investissements’ €100 million super senior revolving credit facility, one notch above the corporate credit rating on ParexGroup. The recovery rating on the revolver is 2, indicating an expectation of substantial recovery in the event of default.

While recovery prospects are significantly in excess of 90%, S&P said it caps the rating at 2 due to S&P’s view of France as a relatively unfavorable jurisdiction for secured creditors.

S&P also assigned a B issue rating to the €550 million senior secured floating-rate notes. The recovery rating on these notes is 4, indicating an expectation of average (30%-50%) recovery in the event of default.

S&P said the rating on DMS Investissements reflects an assessment of ParexGroup’s business risk profile as “fair” and financial risk profile as “highly leveraged.”

S&P gives BB+ to Aecom loan, BB- to notes

Standard & Poor’s said it assigned its preliminary BB corporate credit rating to Aecom Technology Corp. The outlook is stable.

At the same time, S&P assigned a preliminary BB+ issue rating and 2 recovery rating to the company’s proposed senior secured credit facilities. The 2 recovery rating indicates an expectation for substantial recovery (70%-90%) in a payment default scenario.

At the same time, S&P assigned a preliminary BB- issue rating and 5 recovery rating to the company’s proposed senior unsecured notes. The 5 recovery rating indicates an expectation for modest recovery (10%-30%) in a payment default scenario.

S&P said its BB preliminary corporate credit rating on Aecom reflects the company’s participation in the volatile and competitive E&C industry.

S&P affirms Tervita

Standard & Poor’s said it affirmed its B- long-term corporate credit rating on Tervita Corp. The outlook is stable.

At the same time, S&P affirmed its B- issue-level rating and 3 recovery rating on the secured notes and its CCC issue-level rating and 6 recovery rating on the company’s subordinated notes. The 3 recovery rating indicates an expectation of meaningful (50%-70%) recovery in a default scenario, while the 6 recovery rating indicates an expectation of negligible (0%-10%) recovery.

“We have revised Tervita’s business risk profile to ‘weak’ from ‘fair’ to reflect our view that the company’s operations, although less volatile than those of other oilfield service companies, faces a competitive landscape that significantly pressures its gross margins,” said S&P credit analyst Aniki Saha-Yannopoulos in a news release.

Moody's: L-3 delay undesirable

Moody’s Investors Service said that L-3 Communications Corp. notifying the SEC that it does not anticipate filing its 10-Q for the period ended June 27 on time is a negative development.

The company additionally disclosed that a covenant waiver has been obtained under its revolving credit facility for the filing delay, the agency said.

Lenders have consented to filing of quarterly financial statements due on Aug. 11 until Sept. 25, Moody’s noted.

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