S&P lifts Greenway Health

S&P said it raised its corporate credit rating on Greenway Health LLC to B from B- and raised the rating on the company's first-lien term loan and revolver to B from B-.

The 3 recovery rating reflects expectations of meaningful (50%-70%; rounded estimate: 50%) recovery in the event of a default.

The outlook is stable.

“The upgrade reflects the improvement in Greenway's adjusted debt leverage and cash-flow measures following a cost-savings initiative implemented in fiscal 2016, coupled with its transition to a SaaS (software as a service) business model from a license one,” the agency said in a news release.

S&P cuts Brock Holdings, loan

S&P said it downgraded Brock Holdings II Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary Brock Holdings III Inc. to CCC- from CCC+.

The outlooks are negative.

At the same time, the agency lowered the issue-level rating on Brock's $190 million second-lien term loan to C from CCC-. The 6 recovery rating remains, indicating an expectation for negligible (0%-10%; rounded estimate: 0%) recovery in the event of a payment default.

“The downgrade reflects our belief that a default, distressed exchange or redemption is inevitable in the next six months given the company's looming debt maturities, weak liquidity and soft operating performance,” S&P said in a news release.

S&P lowers Pilgrim’s Pride

S&P said it lowered the corporate credit rating on Pilgrim's Pride Corp. to B from B+ and lowered the issue-level ratings on the company's senior secured debt to BB- from BB and the senior unsecured debt to B+ from BB-.

The recovery ratings on the issues remain at 1 and 2, respectively, indicating an expectation of very high (90%-100%; rounded estimate 95%) and substantial (70%-90%; rounded estimate 85%) recovery in the event of a default.

The outlook is negative.

The agency said the one notch downgrade follows a similar action on the parent company JBS SA, after the arrest of its two controlling shareholders in September.

Moody’s ups Range Resources, notes

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded Range Resources Corp.’s corporate family rating to Ba2 from Ba3, probability of default rating to Ba2-PD from Ba3-PD, senior unsecured notes rating to Ba3 from B1, senior subordinated notes rating to B1 from B2 and speculative grade liquidity rating to SGL-2 from SGL-3.

The outlook was changed to positive from stable.

"Range's upgrade reflects low cost operations and development expenses, along with improved price realizations that have contributed to improved cash flow-based leverage metrics," Moody's senior vice president Terry Marshall said in a news release.

"With anticipated debt reduction, Range will be well positioned to sustainably improve its cash flow-based leverage metrics in 2018."

Moody’s lifts TI Group, notes

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded TI Group Automotive Systems, LLC’s corporate family and probability of default ratings to B1 and B1-PD from B2 and B2-PD, respectively.

In a related action, the agency affirmed the Ba3 rating on the senior secured cash flow revolving credit facility and term loan B, upgraded the senior unsecured notes to B3 from Caa1 and assigned an SGL-2 speculative grade liquidity rating.

The outlook is stable.

Moody’s said the action follows the announcement by TI Fluid Systems plc (TI Automotive), the ultimate parent of TI Group, that it priced its initial public stock offering in the U.K. on the London Stock Exchange with initial gross proceeds of €425 million.

Net proceeds are expected to be used to pay down $229.5 million of TI Group’s 8æ%% senior unsecured notes (currently $450 million outstanding) with the balance to pay down portion of its outstanding senior secured term loans.

Moody’s might downgrade Refresco

Moody's Investors Service said it placed all ratings of Refresco Group NV under review for downgrade, including the corporate family rating of Ba3, probability of default rating of Ba3-PD and the Ba3 ratings on its senior secured facilities, namely the €200 million senior secured revolving credit facility due 2023, €1.09 billion senior secured term loan due 2024, £200 million senior secured term loan due 2024 and €620 million senior secured term loan due 2024.

On Oct. 25, Refresco and a consortium of private equity firms PAI and bcIMC announced that they agreed on a recommended cash public offer for all shares of Refresco. The consortium plans to launch the offer in December 2017. Closing is contingent on a number of factors including completion of the acquisition of Cott Corp.’s (B1 stable) traditional bottling activities by Refresco, which is expected by year-end subject to anti-trust approval in various jurisdictions.

Moody’s said the action reflects its expectation that, if completed, the transaction will result in a material increase in Refresco's financial leverage.

S&P affirms Refresco

S&P said it placed its BB- long-term corporate credit rating on Refresco Group NV on CreditWatch with negative implications.

The agency also affirmed the BB- issue rating on the multi-currency senior secured term loan facilities. The recovery rating remains at 3, reflecting an expectation of average recovery (30%-50%; rounded estimate: 50%) in the event of a payment default.

S&P said the CreditWatch placement follows Refresco's conditional agreement with PAI Partners SAS and British Columbia Investment Management Corp. for the 100% takeover of the group.

The affirmation of the issue rating reflects an expectation that the lenders would exercise their right to mandatory prepayment under the change of control clause and the group would have a refinanced capital structure under its new owners, the agency said.

Moody’s rates Intralinks B3, facilities B2, Caa2

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned a B3 corporate family rating and a B3-PD probability of default rating to Impala Private Holdings II, LLC in connection with Siris Capital Group, LLC's proposed acquisition of Intralinks Holdings, Inc.

Concurrently, the agency assigned a B2 rating to the proposed $50 million senior secured first-lien revolving credit facility, a B2 rating to the proposed $450 million senior secured first-lien term loan and a Caa2 rating to the proposed $150 million senior secured second-lien term loan.

The outlook is stable.

Moody’s said the B3 corporate family rating reflects the company's high pro forma debt-to-EBITDA leverage, estimated in the low 6 times range (Moody's adjusted and incorporating all actioned cost reduction initiatives) as of Sept. 30, 2017, modest size relative to its peers, and high concentration of revenues in the financial services segment.

S&P gives Intralink B, facilities B, B-

S&P said it assigned its B corporate credit rating to Intralinks Holdings Inc. and assigned a B issue-level rating to the company's $500 million first-lien credit facility, consisting of a $50 million revolving credit facility due 2022 and a $450 million first-lien term loan due 2024.

The 3 recovery rating indicates an expectation of meaningful (50%-70%; rounded estimate 60%) recovery in the event of a default.

The agency also assigned a B- issue-level rating to the company's $150 million second-lien term loan due 2025. The 5 recovery rating indicates an expectation of modest (10%-30%; rounded estimate 10%) recovery.

The outlook is stable.

"The rating on Intralinks reflects our view of the company's niche product offering and the somewhat commoditized nature of the enterprise file sync and sharing (EFSS) industry, partly offset by its strong market position as a provider of bank-grade secure content collaboration," S&P credit analyst Geoffrey Wilson said in a news release.

Moody’s gives Baa2 to IPG revolver

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned a Baa2 rating to Interpublic Group of Cos., Inc.'s (IPG) new $1.5 billion revolving credit facility and withdrew the Baa2 rating on the old $1 billion revolver.

The company's Baa2 senior unsecured rating, Prime-2 commercial paper rating and stable outlook are unchanged.

IPG amended its existing credit agreement to increase the size of its revolver to $1.5 billion from $1 billion and extend the maturity to October 2022 from October 2020. Other than these changes, the credit agreement retains the same terms, conditions and covenants as before, Moody’s said.

S&P gives Xperi BB-

S&P said it assigned a BB- corporate credit rating to Xperi Corp. and withdrew its ratings on Tessera Technologies, Inc.

The outlook is stable.

At the same time, the agency affirmed the BB- issue-level rating on Xperi's $600 million senior secured term loan B. The 3 recovery rating indicates an expectation of meaningful (50%-70%; rounded estimate of 50%) recovery in the event of a payment default.

“The rating on Xperi reflects our view of the company's volatile operating history, reliance on litigation to generate revenues, high customer concentration (with the top four customers representing more than 40% of revenues), and leverage in the mid-3x area,” S&P said in a news release.

S&P changes Brand Industrial view

S&P said it revised its outlook on Brand Industrial Services Inc. to negative from stable and affirmed its B corporate credit rating.

At the same time, the agency affirmed the B issue-level rating on the company's senior secured credit facility. The 3 recovery rating remains, indicating an expectation for meaningful recovery (50%-70%; rounded estimate: 50%) for lenders in the event of a payment default.

Additionally, S&P affirmed the CCC+ issue-level rating on Brand's upsized senior unsecured notes due 2025. The 6 recovery rating remains, indicating an expectation for negligible recovery (0%-10%; rounded estimate: 5%).

“The negative outlook on Brand reflects our belief that the company's credit measures will improve more slowly than we had previously anticipated,” the agency said in a news release.

S&P changes Central Garden view

S&P said it affirmed its BB- corporate credit rating on Central Garden & Pet Co. and revised the outlook to positive from stable.

The agency also affirmed the BB- rating on the company's $400 million senior unsecured notes due 2023 and revised the recovery rating to 3 from 4, indicating meaningful (50% to 70%; rounded estimate 55%) recovery in the event of a payment default.

S&P said the positive outlook reflects an expectation that Central will reach credit measures consistent with its stated target range while strengthening its business mix and growing EBITDA by making acquisitions and continuing to invest in the business.

S&P changes Hilton view

S&P said it revised the outlook on Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. to stable from positive and affirmed all ratings on the company, including the BB+ corporate credit rating.

“The outlook revision reflects our belief that Hilton's policy goal to keep its measure of net debt to EBITDA between 3x and 3.5x will not translate into our measure of adjusted leverage staying below our 4x upgrade threshold over the volatile lodging cycle,” the agency said in a news release.

S&P also said the stable outlook reflects an expectation for a continued good global lodging operating environment through 2018 and that Hilton has a significant cushion in credit measures.

S&P affirms Contanda

S&P said it affirmed the B corporate credit rating on Contanda LLC and affirmed the B issue-level rating on the company's $270 million term loan B and $30 million revolving credit facility.

The recovery rating is 3, reflecting an expectation for meaningful (50%-70%; rounded estimate: 65%) recovery in the event of default.

The outlook is stable.

S&P said it expects the company to have strong utilization rates and fee-based revenue generation combined with debt to EBITDA that exceeds 6x in coming years.

It also expects Contanda's parent, EQT Infrastructure II, to continue providing equity to deal with insufficient covenant headroom, the agency added.

S&P affirms BlackRock Capital

S&P said it affirmed the BBB- issuer credit rating on BlackRock Capital Investment Corp.

The outlook is negative.

The agency said the affirmation reflects the company’s low leverage and its ability to access the broader BlackRock platform.

“Moreover, as BlackRock Investments builds out its middle-market lending platform, we believe that BKCC will have a greater access to deals not previously afforded.”

S&P affirms Darling Ingredients

S&P said it affirmed its BB+ corporate credit rating on Darling Ingredients Inc. and affirmed the BBB- issue ratings on the company's secured credit facilities.

The recovery rating is 1, indicating expectations for very high recovery (90% to 100%; rounded estimate: 90%) in the event of a payment default.

In addition, the agency affirmed the BB+ rating on Darling's senior unsecured notes with a 4 recovery rating, indicating expectations for meaningful (30% to 50%; rounded estimate: 30%) recovery.

The outlook is stable.

“The ratings largely reflect our belief that the company will continue to prioritize debt repayment and reduce leverage, including debt to EBITDA approaching low-3x area over the next 12 months,” S&P said in a news release.

S&P changes Caterpillar view

S&P said it revised its outlook on Caterpillar Inc. and Caterpillar Financial Services Corp. to stable from negative.

The agency also affirmed all of the ratings on the company and its subsidiaries.

“The outlook revision reflects our view that Caterpillar's end-markets have largely stabilized and will continue to gradually recover over the next two years,” S&P said in a news release.

“We expect the company will improve its profitability through 2018 on volume growth, benefits from prior restructuring activities, and cost discipline.”

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