First-time rating assignment
New York, April 30, 2014 -- New York, 30 April 2014 -- Moody's Investors Service
has today assigned a corporate family rating (CFR) of B1 and a probability
of default rating (PDR) of B1-PD to Albaugh, Inc (Albaugh).
The outlook on the ratings is stable. Concurrently, Moody's
has also assigned a B1 rating to Albaugh's proposed $400
million first-lien senior secured credit agreement, which
consists of a $100 million revolving credit facility (RCF) due
2019 and a $300 million term loan B facility due 2021. Moody's
understands that the proceeds of the proposed credit agreement will be
used to refinance existing indebtedness and general corporate purposes.
This is the first time that Moody's has assigned ratings to Albaugh,
and all ratings are subject to the receipt of final debt documentation.
"Albaugh's B1 CFR primarily reflects the company's narrow
product portfolio of generic herbicides and the fact that glyphosate-based
products continue to account for nearly half of its sales,"
says Anthony Hill, a Moody's Vice President -- Senior
Analyst and lead analyst for Albaugh. "The high sales concentration
in glyphosate-based products potentially leaves the company susceptible
to volatility in EBITDA and cash generation."
Assignments:
..Issuer: Albaugh Inc.
.... Probability of Default Rating,
Assigned B1-PD
.... Corporate Family Rating, Assigned
B1
....$100 million Senior Secured Bank
Credit Facility, Assigned B1 LGD3, 42%
....$300 million Senior Secured Bank
Credit Facility, Assigned B1 LGD3, 42%
RATING RATIONALE
Albaugh's B1 CFR reflects the company's limited product diversity
and scale. Albaugh primarily sells generic, crop protection
chemical products to the North and South American markets. Glyphosate,
which is an herbicide applied to large commodity row crops such as corn
and soy, accounted for approximately 50% of the company's
financial year-end (FYE) December 2013 revenues. Albaugh's
operations are concentrated in North and South America, with significant
exposure to the US, Brazil and Argentina. Its large asset
concentration in Argentina is a concern due to unpredictable government
policies.
The B1 CFR also reflects Albaugh's good credit metrics, adequate
liquidity and the relatively stable market for agricultural chemicals.
Moody's also believes that the market for agricultural chemicals
has good growth potential due to global population growth, increasing
food consumption, and need for crop yield improvements. Additionally,
Albaugh's facilities are strategically placed to realize cost savings
from the receipt and delivery of raw materials and finished products,
with a couple of facilities well integrated vertically. Despite
separate product registration processes in most countries, which
is a barrier to entry, the market for generic herbicides is fairly
competitive. Moody's believes that Albaugh has a sizable
and sustainable market position in the Americas. However,
it competes against larger and better-capitalized companies such
as Monsanto (A1 stable), BASF (A1 stable), DuPont (A2 stable)
and Dow Chemical Company (Baa2 stable), as well as emerging regional
players that are expanding into the Americas such as Nufarm Limited (Ba2
negative).
Albaugh has an adequate liquidity profile primarily supported by the proposed
$100 million RCF. Moody's understands that the company
may draw up to $20 million of the RCF at the close of the proposed
offering for working capital needs. Additionally, Moody's
expects the company to hold approximately $35 million of cash on
hand at FYE December 2014. Moody's anticipates the company will
generate negative free cash flow (FCF) for FYE December 2014 largely due
to one-time investment in working capital; however,
Moody's projects FCF to turn positive within the company's
2015 fiscal year. Moody's expects capital expenditures will
be less than $35 million per year over the next three years.
Moody's understands that the term loan B facility will annually require
prepayment of 50% of excess cash flow (excess cash flow sweep).
Applying Moody's Loss Given Default (LGD) methodology, the PDR is
equal to the CFR. This is based on a 50% recovery rate.
This is primarily due to Moody's assessment of the underlying value
of the assets included as security against the proposed senior secured
credit agreement. Also in accordance with the LGD methodology,
the RCF and first-lien senior secured credit agreement are rated
B1, at the same level as the B1 CFR. While the credit agreement
benefits from a first-lien security package, a good proportion
of assets are not part of the collateral, including the Argentine
facilities.
The stable outlook reflects Moody's expectation that Albaugh will maintain
a Moody's-adjusted EBITDA margin of greater than 8%,
and generate positive free cash flow (FCF) over the next 18 months.
Given Albaugh significant exposure to the highly competitive commodity
herbicide marketplace, Moody's does not expect upward pressure
on Albaugh's rating over the coming years. However,
an upgrade would be considered if the company is able to (1) maintain
an EBITDA margin around 13%; (2) generate a sustained positive
FCF/debt ratio of around 10%; and (3) improve its leverage
profile such that its debt/EBITDA ratio is solidly below 3.0x,
all on a Moody's-adjusted basis.
Conversely, pressure to downgrade the ratings would emerge if Albaugh's
liquidity profile and credit metrics deteriorate because of a weakening
of its operational performance or acquisitions. Quantitatively,
Moody's would consider downgrading Albaugh's rating if (1) its EBITDA
margin falls sustainably below 7.5%; or (2) its FCF
turns sustainably negative; or (3) its debt/EBITDA ratio rises towards
4.5x, all on a Moody's-adjusted basis.
Headquartered in Iowa, US, Albaugh, Inc. is a
privately held manufacturer of generic herbicides, fungicides,
insecticides and seed treatments. For financial year-end
December 2013 the company generated revenue and Moody's-adjusted
EBITDA of approximately $1.2 billion and $99 million,
respectively.
The principal methodology used in this rating was the Global Chemical
Industry Methodology published in December 2013. Other methodologies
used include Loss Given Default for Speculative-Grade Non-Financial
Companies in the U.S., Canada and EMEA published in
June 2009. Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of these methodologies.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series
or category/class of debt or pursuant to a program for which the ratings
are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's
rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to the rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular
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 affected the rating. For further information please see the
ratings tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
For any affected securities or rated entities receiving direct credit
support from the primary entity(ies) of this rating action, and
whose ratings may change as a result of this rating action, the
associated regulatory disclosures will be those of the guarantor entity.
Exceptions to this approach exist for the following disclosures,
if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure
to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has issued
the rating.
Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Anthony Hill
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Brian Oak
MD - Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Moody's assigns B1 CFR to Albaugh; outlook stable