Moody’s gives Darden notes Baa2

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned a Baa2 rating to Darden Restaurants, Inc.'s proposed senior unsecured note offering.

All other ratings of Darden are unchanged, including its Baa2 senior unsecured ratings and P-2 short-term commercial paper rating.

The outlook is stable.

Proceeds from the proposed notes will be used along with cash on hand to repay in full the debt outstanding under the company's unrated $600 million three-year term loan, which was used to finance a portion of the consideration for its acquisition of Ruth's Hospitality Group, Inc. and for other general corporate purposes.

“Darden's Baa2 senior unsecured rating reflects its material scale with around 1,998 casual dining restaurants, including Ruth's, that are well known and well distributed throughout the U.S. which help limit its exposure to regional economic weakness,” the agency said in a news release.

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