Carriage Services Inc. Assigned 'B' Rating, Outlook Positive; Debt Rated

U.S.-based funeral and cemetery services provider Carriage Services Inc. (CSV) is issuing $74 million of common stock and $325 million senior unsecured notes to refinance its current capital structure and retire most outstanding convertible notes. Pro forma for the refinancing, we expect adjusted leverage to be about 5.1x at the end of 2018, and we expect modest deleveraging in subsequent years. We are assigning a 'B' corporate credit rating to the company. The outlook is positive. At the same time, we are assigning a 'B' issue-level rating and '4' recovery rating to the senior unsecured notes. The positive outlook reflects our view that CSV will de-lever through EBITDA growth and demonstrate commitment to reaching its net leverage target of between

...+ U.S.-based funeral and cemetery services provider Carriage Services Inc. (CSV) is issuing $74 million of common stock and $325 million senior unsecured notes to refinance its current capital structure and retire most outstanding convertible notes. + Pro forma for the refinancing, we expect adjusted leverage to be about 5.1x at the end of 2018, and we expect modest deleveraging in subsequent years. + We are assigning a 'B' corporate credit rating to the company. The outlook is positive. + At the same time, we are assigning a 'B' issue-level rating and '4' recovery rating to the senior unsecured notes. + The positive outlook reflects our view that CSV will de-lever through EBITDA growth and demonstrate commitment to reaching its net leverage target of between 4.0x-4.5x, (which translates to S&P Global Ratings-adjusted leverage of about 4.5x-5.0x). The outlook also reflects our view that CSV will pursue acquisitions at a measured pace and at reasonable valuations and successfully integrate...

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