New York, January 06, 2021 -- Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") assigned
a Ba1 rating to M.D.C. Holdings, Inc.'s
("M.D.C.") proposed $300 million
notes due 2031. M.D.C.'s other ratings
and stable outlook remain unchanged. The Speculative-Grade
Liquidity rating also remains unchanged at SGL-2. The proceeds
of the new notes will be used for general corporate purposes. The
immediate impact of the transaction will result in an increase to M.D.C.'s
adjusted homebuilding debt-to-capitalization to 45.1%
on a pro forma basis as of 9/30/20, from 35.3%.
M.D.C. has a meaningful backlog of sold homes going
into 2021 in excess of 6,500 units and Moody's forecasts total
annual sales of over 10,000 units, which will result in deleveraging
through earnings growth. Moody's expects leverage to decline
to 33.8% by year-end 2021, which is modestly
higher than our prior projection of 30.8%.
Assignments:
..Issuer: M.D.C. Holdings,
Inc.
....Senior Unsecured Notes, Assigned
Ba1 (LGD4)
RATINGS RATIONALE
M.D.C.'s Ba1 Corporate Family Rating (CFR)
reflects the company's success at reducing land impairment risk
through its build-to-order strategy and history of moderate
land supply. In addition, M.D.C. has
a diverse geographic footprint and growing presence in affordable product
offerings, a category experiencing stronger demand as affordability
issues persist. Demand for new single-family housing across
all product categories has increased as a result of the COVID-19
pandemic, with families seeking to relocate to suburban areas with
more personal space as they spend more time at home. These factors
are offset by rising land, labor and materials costs which can place
downward pressure on the company's gross margin. In addition,
the homebuilding industry is highly cyclical and could lead to protracted
revenue declines in a downturn.
M.D.C.'s proposed and existing senior notes
are unsecured and the credits have the same priority of claim as M.D.C.'s
unsecured revolving credit facility. The Ba1 ratings assigned to
the senior unsecured notes, at the same level with the CFR,
reflects that this class of debt represents the preponderance of debt
in the capital structure.
Moody's expects M.D.C. to maintain good liquidity
over the next 12 to 18 months. In addition to $503 million
of unrestricted cash at September 30, 2020, the company has
almost full availability on its newly expanded $1.2 billion
senior unsecured revolver. Approximately $1.125 billion
of facility commitments have been extended to December 2025, with
the remaining commitment continuing to expire December 2023. The
revolver has an accordion feature that permits M.D.C.
to increase the commitment to $1.7 billion.
M.D.C.'s governance risk is low and reflects the
maintenance of a conservative financial policy, with no joint ventures
or off-balance sheet recourse obligations, as well as low
financial leverage.
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS
The ratings could be upgraded if M.D.C. demonstrates
maintenance of strong credit metrics, including homebuilding debt
to book capitalization below 35% and EBIT interest coverage in
the high single digits on a sustained basis. An upgrade would also
require maintenance of a very good liquidity profile, including
strong free cash flow generation. Finally, an upgrade would
require a meaningful increase in size and scale while maintaining its
conservative financial policy and demonstrating a commitment to attaining
and maintaining an investment grade rating, both to Moody's and
to the debt capital markets. The ratings could be downgraded if
M.D.C. shifts to a more aggressive financial policy
or if operating results decline such that debt leverage approaches 45%,
EBIT interest coverage declines below 5x or liquidity weakens.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Homebuilding And Property
Development Industry published in January 2018 and available at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1108031.
Alternatively, please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of this methodology.
Founded in 1972 and headquartered in Denver, CO, M.D.C.
Holdings, Inc. is a mid-sized national homebuilder
that builds and sells primarily single family detached homes to first
time and first time move up buyers under the name "Richmond American Homes".
The homebuilding divisions operate across three regions, including
the states of Arizona, California, Nevada, Washington,
Oregon, Colorado, Utah, Virginia, Maryland,
and Florida. For the 12 month period ended September 30,
2020, the company's revenue and net income were approximately $3.8
billion and $313 million, respectively.
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
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and whose ratings may change as a result of this credit rating action,
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if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure
to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.
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Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
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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
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The Global Scale Credit Rating on this Credit Rating Announcement was
issued by one of Moody's affiliates outside the UK and is endorsed
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for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Griselda Bisono
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
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Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Dean Diaz
Associate Managing Director
Corporate Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Releasing Office:
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