Moody’s rates Informa, notes Baa3

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned a Baa3 issuer rating to Informa plc following the completion of its acquisition of UBM plc.

Concurrently, the agency assigned a provisional Baa3 rating to the company’s £2.5 billion euro medium-term note program and affirmed the Baa3 rating on UBM's $350 million senior unsecured notes due 2020 as the notes benefit from an unconditional and irrevocable guarantee from Informa, effectively putting senior unsecured instruments issued at its level at the same priority and ranking as Informa's own senior unsecured obligations.

Following the reorganization, Moody's withdrew UBM’s Baa3 issuer rating as it is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Informa.

The outlook is stable.

"The Baa3 rating reflects Informa's leading position as the number one exhibition organizer globally following the acquisition of UBM, its well diversified operations by geography and business line, the strong underlying trends of the exhibitions business and its moderate leverage," Christian Azzi, Moody's assistant vice president, analyst and lead analyst on Informa, said in a news release.

"While credit metrics are initially weak for the Baa3 category, the rating reflects our expectation that Informa will successfully integrate recent acquisitions, and reduce debt through EBITDA growth and positive free cash flow generation."

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