Bulletin: GrafTech International Ltd. Ratings And Outlook Unaffected By Dividend

NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) April 3, 2018--S&P Global Ratings said today that its corporate credit rating and outlook on Brooklyn Heights, Ohio-based graphite electrode producer GrafTech International Ltd. (B+/Stable/--) are unaffected by the company's intention to issue a $750 million promissory note as a dividend to its financial sponsor, Brookfield Asset Management, on or around May 9, 2018. In our view, another debt-financed dividend to its financial sponsor, after a $1.1 billion dividend only three months ago, will increase leverage modestly, with adjusted debt to EBITDA of 2x-2.5x over the next 12-24 months. In addition, we expect that the company could refinance the promissory note with other long-term debt, as indicated, in the near to medium term (i.e., less

...NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) April 3, 2018--S&P Global Ratings said today that its corporate credit rating and outlook on Brooklyn Heights, Ohio-based graphite electrode producer GrafTech International Ltd. (B+/Stable/--) are unaffected by the company's intention to issue a $750 million promissory note as a dividend to its financial sponsor, Brookfield Asset Management, on or around May 9, 2018. In our view, another debt-financed dividend to its financial sponsor, after a $1.1 billion dividend only three months ago, will increase leverage modestly, with adjusted debt to EBITDA of 2x-2.5x over the next 12-24 months. In addition, we expect that the company could refinance the promissory note with other long-term debt, as indicated, in the near to medium term (i.e., less than three years) given the terms and conditions of the note, which gives the company an incentive to refinance the obligation under more favorable terms. We also expect that the additional $160 million dividend that GrafTech...

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