S&P lowers American Rock Salt

Standard & Poor's said it lowered its corporate credit rating on American Rock Salt Co. LLC to B- from B. The outlook is negative.

The agency said it also removed the ratings from CreditWatch, where they were placed on March 28 with negative implications.

At the same time, the agency said it lowered the issue-level rating on the company's senior secured term loan to B from B+ and lowered the issue-level rating on the company's second-lien notes to CCC from CCC+. The recovery ratings remain at 2 for the senior secured term loan and 6 for the second-lien notes.

"The downgrade reflects the impact of an unseasonably warm winter on ARS' operating performance, which has led to significantly lower demand for deicing salt products," said S&P credit analyst Gayle Bowerman in a news release.

As a result of the weaker demand, S&P said the company's liquidity position has tightened to the point that its liquidity is considered weak.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.