Approximately $356 million of rated debt affected
New York, January 04, 2012 -- Moody's Investors Service has lowered the probability of default rating
(PDR) of Coach America Holdings, Inc. ("Coach America") to
D from Caa1 and the corporate family rating (CFR) to Ca from Caa1 following
its announcement on January 3, 2012 that Coach America and its subsidiaries
have filed a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 reorganization in the United
States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. In the near
term, Moody's will withdraw all of the ratings because the issuer
has entered into bankruptcy. Please refer to Moody's withdrawal
policy on Moodys.com.
The following ratings were downgraded and will be withdrawn:
Probability of Default Rating to D from Caa1
Corporate Family Rating to Ca from Caa1
$30 million 1st lien revolving credit facility due 2013 downgraded
to Ca (LGD-3, 44%) from Caa1 (LGD-3,
44%);
$50 million 1st lien letter of credit facility due 2014 downgraded
to Ca (LGD-3, 44%) from Caa1 (LGD-3,
44%);
$195 million 1st lien term loan due 2014 downgraded to Ca (LGD-3,
44%) from Caa1 (LGD-3, 44%);
$50 million 1st lien delayed draw term loan due 2014 downgraded
to Ca (LGD-3, 44%) from Caa1 (LGD-3,
44%);
$30.5 million 2nd lien term loan due 2014 downgraded to
C (LGD-6, 90%) from Caa3 (LGD-6, 90%)
RATINGS RATIONALE
The downgrade of the PDR and CFR reflects the company's bankruptcy filing,
which Moody's classifies as a default event.
Coach America Holdings, Inc's ratings were assigned by evaluating
factors that Moody's considers relevant to the credit profile of the issuer,
such as the company's (i) business risk and competitive position compared
with others within the industry; (ii) capital structure and financial
risk; (iii) projected performance over the near to intermediate term;
and (iv) management's track record and tolerance for risk. Moody's
compared these attributes against other issuers both within and outside
Coach America Holdings, Inc's core industry and believes Coach
America Holdings, Inc 's ratings are comparable to those of
other issuers with similar credit risk. 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 this methodology.
Coach America Holdings, Inc., headquartered in Dallas,
Texas, is a charter bus operator and motorcoach services provider
in the United States. The company reported last twelve months ended
September 30, 2011 revenues of $457.8 million.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
Although this credit rating has been issued in a non-EU country
which has not been recognized as endorsable at this date, this credit
rating is deemed "EU qualified by extension" and may still
be used by financial institutions for regulatory purposes until 31 January
2012. ESMA may extend the use of credit ratings for regulatory
purposes in the European Community for three additional months,
until 30 April 2012, if ESMA decides that exceptional circumstances
arise that may imply potential market disruption or financial instability.
Further information on the EU endorsement status and on the Moody's
office that has issued a particular Credit Rating is available on www.moodys.com.
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides relevant 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 relevant 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 relevant 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.
Information sources used to prepare the rating are the following :
parties involved in the ratings, public information, and confidential
and proprietary Moody's Investors Service information.
Moody's considers the quality of information available on the rated
entity, obligation or credit satisfactory for the purposes of issuing
a rating.
Moody's adopts all necessary measures so that the information it
uses in assigning a rating is of sufficient quality and from sources Moody's
considers to be reliable including, when appropriate, independent
third-party sources. However, Moody's is not
an auditor and cannot in every instance independently verify or validate
information received in the rating process.
Please see the ratings disclosure page on www.moodys.com
for general disclosure on potential conflicts of interests.
Please see the ratings disclosure page on www.moodys.com
for information on (A) MCO's major shareholders (above 5%) and
for (B) further information regarding certain affiliations that may exist
between directors of MCO and rated entities as well as (C) the names of
entities that hold ratings from MIS that have also publicly reported to
the SEC an ownership interest in MCO of more than 5%. A
member of the board of directors of this rated entity may also be a member
of the board of directors of a shareholder of Moody's Corporation;
however, Moody's has not independently verified this matter.
Please see Moody's Rating Symbols and Definitions on the Rating Process
page on www.moodys.com for further information on the meaning
of each rating category and the definition of default and recovery.
Please see ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for the last rating action and the rating history.
The date on which some ratings were first released goes back to a time
before Moody's ratings were fully digitized and accurate data may not
be available. Consequently, Moody's provides a date that
it believes is the most reliable and accurate based on the information
that is available to it. Please see the ratings disclosure page
on our website www.moodys.com for further information.
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.
Jadijhe (Gigi) Adamo
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
Alexandra S. Parker
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 downgrades Coach America's PDR to D