Moody’s ups Emerald Expositions, rates facility B1

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded Emerald Expositions Holding, Inc.'s corporate family rating to B1 from B2 and probability of default rating to B2-PD from B3-PD following the completion of the company's IPO, with a portion of the proceeds from the primary offering going toward reducing debt.

The agency also assigned a B1 senior secured rating to the proposed credit facility consisting of a $150 million revolving credit facility and a $565 million term loan B.

The outlook is stable.

Moody’s said the upgrade of the corporate family rating to B1 is driven by the recent IPO transaction which reduced pro-forma leverage to 3.7 times from 4.7 times as of the first quarter of 2017 (including Moody's adjustments) and materially reduced interest expense.

The issue of public equity also creates the potential to fund any new acquisition with equity in addition to debt or cash from the balance sheet.

The agency said it expects the company will pay out a dividend of approximately $20 million over the next year.

Moody's will withdraw the B2 rating on the company's existing senior secured credit facility following repayment. It also assigned an SGL-2 liquidity rating to Emerald, indicating good liquidity.

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