Moody's rates Aventine, notes B3

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned a B3 senior implied rating to Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings Inc., a B3 rating to the company's proposed $160 million senior secured floating-rate notes and a speculative grade liquidity rating of SGL-2.

Proceeds from the debt offering, combined with a $15 million drawdown under the secured credit facility will be used to pay a dividend of $107 million to existing shareholders and management option holders and fund a $62.5 million plant expansion to the company's main ethanol plant in Pekin, Ill. The outlook is stable.

Moody's said the ratings reflect significant uncertainty over the next 12 to 24 months with regard to the supply/demand balance in ethanol, substantial refinancing risk due to potential changes in the industry over the next seven years, the presence of two major competitors with substantially greater resources, limited product and customer diversification, negative net worth, limited barriers to entry and a significant level of operating leases.

© 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.