Moody's downgrades Sensata

Moody's Investors Service said it lowered Sensata Technologies BV's corporate family and probability-of-default ratings to B3 from B2, senior secured credit facility to B1 from Ba3, senior unsecured notes to Caa1 from B3 and senior subordinated notes to Caa2 from Caa1. The speculative grade liquidity rating remains at SGL-2.

Also downgraded were $450 million senior unsecured notes due 2014 to Caa1 (LGD5, 73%) from B3 (LGD5, 75%), the senior secured credit facility to B1 (LGD2, 28%) from Ba3 (LGD2, 29%) and €245 million senior subordinate notes due 2016 to Caa2 (LGD6, 90%) from Caa1 (LGD6, 91%).

The downgrades reflect the company's sustained high leverage and modest debt service metrics, and the potential for weaker economic trends over the coming year, according to the agency.

The outlook was changed to stable from negative.

Moody's said the downgrade reflects lack of de-leveraging as the company continues to face challenging economic environments.

For the 12 months ended March 31, the issuer's debt-to-EBITDA ratio was near 9 times.

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