Moody's: Windstream loan Baa3, notes Ba3

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned a Baa3 (LGD2-13%) rating to Windstream Corp.'s proposed $300 million term loan B-4 due 2020 and a Ba3 (LGD5-75%) rating to its proposed $700 million senior unsecured notes due 2023.

As part of the action, Moody's changed the outlook to negative from stable due to the lack of progress in reducing leverage and Moody's view that the company's competitive position may be undermined by its shareholder friendly capital allocation stance.

"Windstream's high dividend consumes the majority of its discretionary free cash flow and pressures the company's ability to reinvest in Capex or repay debt to materially reduce leverage," Moody's analyst Mark Stodden said in a news release.

© 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.