New York, October 06, 2020 -- Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") affirmed
Maravai Intermediate Holdings, LLC's ("Maravai") B3 Corporate
Family Rating and B3-PD Probability of Default Rating. Moody's
also assigned B3 ratings to the company's proposed new $600
million first lien term loan and $150 million revolving credit
facility. The outlook remains stable.
Proceeds from the proposed refinancing will be used to (1) repay $361
million of existing first and second lien debt, (2) repurchase $129
million of Cygnus minority interests, and (3) fund a $94
million distribution to Maravai's shareholders and (4) fees and
expenses. Upon completion, Moody's expect to withdraw
the rating of Maravai's first lien and second lien debt instruments
that will be retired as part of the proposed transaction.
Ratings affirmed:
..Issuer: Maravai Intermediate Holdings, LLC
.... Corporate Family Rating, Affirmed
B3
.... Probability of Default Rating,
Affirmed B3-PD
Ratings assigned:
..Issuer: Maravai Intermediate Holdings, LLC
....Senior Secured First Lien Term Loan due
2027, B3 (LGD4)
....Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility
due 2025, B3 (LGD4)
Outlook Actions:
..Issuer: Maravai Intermediate Holdings, LLC
....Outlook, Remains Stable
RATINGS RATIONALE
Maravai's B3 CFR is constrained by Moody's expectation that leverage
-- currently 6.3x pro forma -- will remain high,
and above 5 times over the next 12 months following the recent shareholder
distribution. Further, Moody's expects that improving
financial flexibility from earnings growth will be used either for business
development or for shareholder distributions, reflecting Maravai's
private equity ownership. Maravai's rating is constrained
by its modest market position where it competes with significantly larger
and well-capitalized players. In addition, Maravai
has a somewhat limited operating track record, as the company was
formed through a series of acquisitions. These challenges are tempered
by the company's high profit margins and Moody's expectation
for at least mid-to-high single digit revenue growth over
the next 12 to 18 months. Revenue growth will be driven by favorable
demand trends for Maravai's products used in drug R&D and manufacturing,
and other end markets such as components for COVID-19 vaccine candidates.
While these bring sizeable opportunities for Maravai, the nascent
mRNA technology that is being used in some COVID-19 vaccines programs
makes the impact difficult to quantify until more data on the vaccine
candidates is available.
Moody's expects that Maravai will have very good liquidity over
the next 12-18 months, characterized by free cash flow of
at least $60 million annually, with significant upside depending
on the success of COVID-19 vaccine programs. Moody's
expects capex to be roughly $30 million in 2020 including investments
in on-going capacity expansion but to decrease in 2021 to $10
to $15 million. As of the end of June 2020, Maravai
had $84 million of cash and equivalents. Internal liquidity
will be supported by the proposed $150 million revolving credit
facility expiring 2025 that is expected to be undrawn at close.
Environmental risks are not considered material to Maravai's credit
rating. The company has some exposure to the coronavirus outbreak
- both positive and negative. Moody's regards the coronavirus
outbreak as a social risk under its ESG framework, given the substantial
implications for public health and safety. The temporary closure
of research labs creates a revenue headwind for Maravai's protein detection
business, which will shave off a couple of percentage points of
revenue growth for the whole company in 2020. On the other hand,
Maravai is involved with several COVID-19 vaccine research projects
where it applies its technological expertise in the field of cell and
gene therapy to provide vaccine components for pharmaceutical and biopharma
companies. This in turn is providing a material revenue tailwind
for the company, but its duration and magnitude will be largely
dependent on the success of the various vaccine development programs.
From a governance perspective, Maravai's high leverage reflects
an aggressive financial policy and its private equity ownership may lead
to shareholder friendly actions which are detrimental to creditors.
The stable outlook reflects Moody's expectation that Maravai will continue
to grow revenue and earnings, but that financial leverage will remain
high to support business development.
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS
The ratings could be upgraded if the company materially increases its
scale in its key business segments and adopts more conservative financial
policies. Quantitatively, sustaining debt/EBITDA around 5.0x
would support an upgrade.
The ratings could be downgraded if the company's liquidity deteriorates
or operating performance weakens. A downgrade could also occur
if Maravai increases its financial leverage.
Maravai Intermediate Holdings, LLC is the parent holding company
of Maravai Life Sciences ("Maravai"). Maravai manufactures
scientific reagents used in drug development and manufacturing,
diagnostic tests, life science tools, and for other research
purposes. Over 80% of revenue is derived from gene therapy
and bioproduction. The company is owned by Chicago-based
private equity firm GTCR and was formed through a series of acquisitions
completed in December 2017. Annual sales are roughly $200
million.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Manufacturing Methodology
published in March 2020 and available at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1206079.
Alternatively, please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of this methodology.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For further specification of Moody's key rating assumptions and
sensitivity analysis, see the sections Methodology Assumptions and
Sensitivity to Assumptions in the disclosure form. Moody's
Rating Symbols and Definitions can be found at: https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_79004.
For ratings issued on a program, series, category/class of
debt or security this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures
in relation to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the
same series, category/class of debt, security or pursuant
to a program for which the ratings are derived exclusively from existing
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issued on a support provider, this announcement provides certain
regulatory disclosures in relation to the credit rating action on the
support provider and in relation to each particular credit rating action
for securities that derive their credit ratings from the support provider's
credit rating. For provisional ratings, this announcement
provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation to the provisional
rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive rating that may
be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt, in each
case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed prior
to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would have
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and whose ratings may change as a result of this credit rating action,
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to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.
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Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
Moody's general principles for assessing environmental, social
and governance (ESG) risks in our credit analysis can be found at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1133569.
The Global Scale Credit Rating on this Credit Rating Announcement was
issued by one of Moody's affiliates outside the EU and is endorsed
by Moody's Deutschland GmbH, An der Welle 5, Frankfurt
am Main 60322, Germany, in accordance with Art.4 paragraph
3 of the Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 on Credit Rating Agencies.
Further information on the EU endorsement status and on the Moody's
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for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Jean-Yves Coupin
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Jessica Gladstone, CFA
Associate Managing Director
Corporate Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Releasing Office:
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