Moody's boosts Del Monte

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded the corporate family rating of Del Monte Corp. to Ba2 from Ba3 and assigned a Baa3 rating to its proposed $1.1 billion of senior secured bank facilities.

Moody's upgraded the company's speculative grade liquidity rating to SGL-2 from SGL-3.

The outlook is stable.

The proposed senior secured facilities, consisting of a $500 million revolving credit facility and a $600 million term loan facility, will replace $1.3 billion of existing senior secured bank facilities.

The upgrade reflects Del Monte's stable operating performance, improved capital structure and reducing financial leverage over the past year following the divestiture of its canned seafood business, according to the agency.

The action also assumes that the bank debt refinancing is completed as proposed and incorporates expectation that despite intensifying competition in core segments, cash flow should remain strong over the next two years, the agency said.

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