New York, April 05, 2021 -- Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") assigned
ratings to the new senior note offering of Organon & Co. ("Organon")
including a Ba2 senior secured rating and a B1 senior unsecured rating.
There are no changes to Organon's existing ratings including the
Ba2 Corporate Family Rating, the Ba2-PD Probability of Default
Rating, the Ba2 senior secured credit facility rating, and
the SGL-2 Speculative Grade Liquidity Rating. The outlook
remains unchanged at stable.
Proceeds from the notes offering together with secured term loan proceeds
will be used to pay a $9.0 billion dividend to Merck &
Co., Inc. ("Merck"), related to Organon's spin-out
from Merck, and to provide initial cash on hand.
Ratings assigned:
1st Lien Senior secured notes, Ba2 (LGD3)
Senior unsecured notes, B1 (LGD6)
RATINGS RATIONALE
Organon's Ba2 Corporate Family Rating reflects its niche position in the
global pharmaceutical industry, offering women's health products,
biosimilars, and established off-patent products.
The established brands have good name recognition, marketed globally
by Merck & Co., Inc. or subsidiary Merck Sharp
& Dohme Corp., prior to the spin-out of Organon
from Merck. Organon has good diversity at the product and geographic
level. Moody's anticipates solid cash flow, and deleveraging
consistent with management's long-term debt/EBITDA target of 3.5x.
These strengths are offset by a weak organic growth outlook, owing
to the nature of established brands which face pricing and volume pressure
amid competition from generics. Financial leverage is moderately
high; Moody's estimates pro forma 2021 debt/EBITDA of approximately
4.4x. Due to limited internal R&D, Organon is
likely to pursue business development, potentially involving debt
financing. In addition, Organon faces risks typical of spin-outs;
these include adherence to transition agreements with the former parent,
cost increases to fully build a sustainable infrastructure, and
establishing track record and credibility as an independent company.
The senior secured notes are rated Ba2, the same as the Ba2 Corporate
Family Rating and the senior secured credit facilities. This reflects
the large proportion of senior secured debt in Organon's capital structure.
The small proportion of unsecured debt, which Moody's anticipates
will be $1.5 billion, is not substantial enough to
notch the senior secured rating any higher than the Corporate Family Rating
based on Moody's Loss Given Default Methodology. The senior unsecured
notes are rated B1, reflecting their junior position relative to
material amounts of secured debt. Both the secured and unsecured
notes will become direct obligations of the parent company, Organon
& Co., following various transactions related to the
spin-off. Security for the senior secured notes is the same
as that for the senior secured credit facilities. Both the secured
and unsecured notes have guarantees from the same subsidiaries guaranteeing
the senior secured credit facilities.
The outlook is stable, and reflects Moody's expectation for a successful
transition to a stand-alone company, stable operating performance
due to growth in women's health and biosimilars, and debt/EBITDA
sustained below 4.5x.
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS
Factors that could lead to an upgrade include establishing a good track
record as an independent company, a successful transition from Merck
including adherence to separation agreements, and an improvement
in organic growth rates. Quantitatively, debt/EBITDA sustained
below 3.5x could lead to an upgrade.
Factors that could lead to a downgrade include a significant contraction
in growth due to pricing pressure or competition, unforeseen execution
problems in fully separating from Merck, or substantial debt-financed
acquisitions. Quantitatively, debt/EBITDA sustained over
4.5x could lead to a downgrade.
Headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, Organon & Co.,
is a global pharmaceutical company with expertise in women's health,
established brands and biosimilars. Pro forma revenues in 2020
totaled $6.6 billion.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Pharmaceutical Industry
published in June 2017 and available at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1062755.
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
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 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
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 credit rating action,
and whose ratings may change as a result of this credit 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.
The ratings have been disclosed to the rated entity or its designated
agent(s) and issued with no amendment resulting from that disclosure.
These ratings are solicited. Please refer to Moody's Policy
for Designating and Assigning Unsolicited Credit Ratings available on
its website www.moodys.com.
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_1243406.
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
office that issued the credit rating is available on www.moodys.com.
The Global Scale Credit Rating on this Credit Rating Announcement was
issued by one of Moody's affiliates outside the UK and is endorsed
by Moody's Investors Service Limited, One Canada Square,
Canary Wharf, London E14 5FA under the law applicable to credit
rating agencies in the UK. Further information on the UK endorsement
status and on the Moody's office that issued the credit rating is
available on www.moodys.com.
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.
Michael Levesque, CFA
Senior Vice President
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:
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