New York, October 23, 2012 -- Moody's Investors Service assigned a Ba3 rating to Indigold Carbon
(Netherlands) BV's (Indigold Carbon) proposed $350 million
incremental five year term loan and affirmed its Ba3 Corporate Family
Rating (CFR) and other debt ratings. Proceeds from the financing,
along with approximately $75 million of existing balance sheet
cash, will be used to fund an intercompany loan to a newly formed,
wholly-owned subsidiary of SKI Investments Pte. Ltd.
(Singapore), which will fund the consolidation of the Aditya Birla
Group's carbon black businesses. The outlook is stable.
Rating assigned:
Indigold Carbon (Netherlands) BV
$350 million incremental term loan -- Ba3 (LGD3, 43%)
Ratings affirmed:
Indigold Carbon (Netherlands) BV
Corporate Family Rating -- Ba3
Probability of Default Rating -- Ba3
Outlook -- Stable
Indigold Carbon (Netherlands) BV, Indigold Carbon USA, Inc.
& other borrowers
$75mm sr sec revolving credit facilities due 2016 --
Ba3 (LGD3, 43%) from Ba3 (LGD3, 42%)
$500mm sr sec term loan A due 2016 -- Ba3 (LGD3,
43%) from Ba3 (LGD3, 42%)
Outlook -- Stable
RATINGS RATIONALE
The Ba3 CFR rating is supported by Indigold Carbon's strong operating
results since the acquisition by the Aditya Birla Group. The company
has outperformed our expectations in 2012, and has expanded margins
to record levels, such that its credit metrics will remain supportive
of the Ba3 CFR with the additional $350 million of debt.
Indigold Carbon's leverage is expected to be 3.8x (as of June 30,
2012, pro forma for the proposed financing and inclusive of Moody's
standard analytical adjustments), which is slightly lower than the
debt/EBITDA metric it had after the acquisition by the Aditya Birla Group
(4.0x).
The CFR is also supported by the stable demand profile for carbon black
(relative to other commodity chemical businesses), the company's
strong market positions as one of the top three global producers,
long-term customer relationships, and geographic diversity
with operations in all major regions. Indigold Carbon offers a
complete product line from commodity carbon blacks to higher margin specialty
carbon blacks. Pressuring the ratings are meaningful customer concentration,
modest global demand growth, exposure to volatile energy and petroleum-based
feedstock costs, limited product diversity (carbon black) and commodity
nature of the majority of the company's carbon black business.
The stable outlook reflects our expectation that the carbon black market
will continue to grow at GDP-like rates, the company will
maintain its margins and will generate positive free cash flow.
Upside to the rating is limited due to the leverage, size of the
company (annual revenues of approximately $1.5 billion),
the commodity nature of the majority of its products, and recent
volume softness, but a positive outlook could be considered should
the company be able to reduce leverage toward 3.0x on a sustained
basis. Any decline in EBITDA margins prior to the firm de-levering,
or increase in leverage above 4.5x on a sustained basis could result
in a downgrade of the ratings.
Indigold Carbon has a good liquidity position, supported by the
cash balances ($21 million as of 9/30/2012, pro forma for
the transactions), positive free cash flow, and full availability
under its $75 million revolving credit facility. The company
is expected to remain in compliance with its leverage and coverage financial
covenants, which are not changing with the amendment to the existing
credit facility.
The principal methodology used in rating Indigold Carbon was the Global
Chemical Industry Methodology published in December 2009. 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.
Indigold Carbon (Netherlands) BV (Indigold Carbon) is a holding company
formed in connection with the acquisition of Columbian Chemicals Acquisition
LLC (Columbian Chemicals) by the Aditya Birla Group (Birla) in June 2011.
The Birla carbon black business and Indigold Carbon business, on
a combined basis, constitute the largest global carbon black producer
with 17 production facilities. Revenues for the year ended June
30, 2012 were $1.5 billion.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
The Global Scale Credit Ratings on this press release that are issued
by one of Moody's affiliates outside the EU are endorsed by Moody's
Investors Service Ltd., One Canada Square, Canary Wharf,
London E 14 5FA, UK, 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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James Wilkins
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
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Steven Wood
MD - Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance Group
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Moody's rates Indigold Carbon's $350mm incremental term loan Ba3; outlook stable