Moody’s ups Springer, revolver; rates loans B1

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded the corporate family rating and probability of default rating for Springer SBM One GmbH to B2 and B2-PD from B3 and B3-PD, respectively.

The agency also assigned B1 ratings to the refinanced term loan tranches (B6, B7, B8, B9 totaling €2.6 billion) and upgraded the B2 rating to B1 for the €250 million revolving credit facility. Springer Science + Business Media Deutschland GmbH, a wholly owned and fully guaranteed subsidiary of Springer SBM, is the primary borrower of the term loan facilities and the revolver is Springer Science + Business Media GmbH, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Springer SBM.

All outlooks are stable.

Moody’s said the upgrade follows the successful conclusion of the merger transaction of Springer Science + Business Media with the majority of Holtzbrinck-owned Macmillan Science and Education (MSE), namely Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan and the global businesses of Macmillan Education. The bank agreement was amended to include an additional €600 million of term debt to fund the merger.

Additionally, Springer upsized its revolving credit facility to €250 million from €150 million to account for the increased liquidity requirements given the larger size of the combined business.

"The ratings upgrade reflects the improved business risk profile and growth prospects as well as the de-leveraging potential of the combined group" Gunjan Dixit, Moody's vice president, senior analyst and lead analyst for Springer, said in a news release.

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