Moody's rates R&R Ice Cream notes B1

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned a provisional B1 rating to the £315 million senior secured notes due 2020 to be issued by R&R Ice Cream plc, affirmed the Caa1 rating of the €253 million senior PIK toggle notes due 2018 issued by R&R PIK plc and moved the B2 corporate family rating and B2-PD probability of default rating to R&R Ice Cream plc, the top entity of R&R Ice Cream group. The outlook is stable.

Proceeds from the new notes will be used to redeem all outstanding €350 million senior secured notes due 2017.

The agency said the provisional B1 rating of the new notes reflects the cushion from the subordinated PIK notes.

Leverage as of the end of 2013 is considered high at 5.9 times net reported or 7.3 times gross Moody's adjusted, but the agency expects the company to achieve deleveraging during 2014 due to full-year contribution and synergies from Fredericks, the full-year impact of price increases achieved in late 2013 and impact from cost reduction and three plant closures during 2013.

© 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.