New York, June 02, 2020 -- Moody's Investors Service, ("Moody's") assigned
an A3 rating to Affiliated Managers Group, Inc.'s (AMG) new
offering of $350 million senior unsecured notes due June 2030.
The offering is a takedown from a multiple seniority shelf registration
statement of AMG, which was automatically declared effective by
the Securities Exchange Commission on 21 March 2019. All existing
ratings will remain unchanged. AMG's outlook is stable.
AMG intends to use the net proceeds of this offering to repay outstanding
indebtedness under its revolving credit facility and senior unsecured
term loan facility. At 31 March 2020, the company had $450.0
million, net of issuance costs of $0.3 million,
outstanding under its senior unsecured term loan, and $250
million outstanding on its revolving credit facility.
The following rating assignments were made:
Assignments:
..Issuer: Affiliated Managers Group, Inc.
.... $350 million new senior unsecured
notes due June 2030, Assigned A3
RATINGS RATIONALE
Affiliated Managers Group, Inc's A3 senior unsecured rating reflects
the company's scale, strong cash flows and its successful implementation
of a multi-affiliate strategy. AMG's unique investment formula,
which leaves a substantial portion of equity in the hands of its affiliates'
management teams, has historically attracted successful asset management
firms that value the ongoing opportunity to participate in and to further
capitalize their growth. The company's investment emphasis
in recent years on alternative wealth managers has aligned it with areas
of growth in the industry. In February 2020, the company
announced the acquisition of Comvest Partners, a middle market private
equity and credit investment firm.
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATING
AMG's rating and/or outlook could be subject to positive pressure if the
following occurs: 1) Increased scale and diversification of asset
class exposures that mitigate systemic risk to the revenues, 2)
Deleveraging that sustains Debt/EBITDA (as defined by Moody's) below 1.5x,
or 3) Acceleration in the growth of AMG's retail distribution capabilities.
However, the long-term rating could face negative pressure
if 1) Scale decreases due to market events, performance weakness
or AUM instability, 2) Leverage remains elevated above 2.5x
for a sustained period, or 3) Any rupture occurs in the cooperative
relationship between AMG and its leading affiliates.
Affiliated Managers Group is a global asset management company that has
investments in 35 affiliates, which reported aggregate assets under
management of $599.9 billion as of 31 March 2020.
The last rating action was on 30 April 2019, when Moody's
affirmed AMG's ratings.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Asset Managers Methodology
published in November 2019 and available at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1186105.
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_1133569.
At least one ESG consideration was material to the credit rating action(s)
announced and described above.
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.
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.
Neal M. Epstein, CFA
VP - Senior Credit Officer
Funds & Asset Management 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
Marc R. Pinto, CFA
MD - Financial Institutions
Funds & Asset Management 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