Community Health Systems Inc. Corporate Credit Rating Lowered To 'CCC-' And Placed On CreditWatch Negative

U.S.-based hospital operator Community Health Systems Inc. has announced three tender offerings totaling $3.125 billion in aggregate. Although the maturities in 2019 and 2020 are tendered at par and we would not consider those exchanges as distressed, the 2022 maturities are offered for exchange at a material discount to par, which we would view as a distressed transaction and selective default if those notes are included in the tender. As a result, reflecting the potential for a selective default, we are lowering the corporate credit rating to 'CCC-' from 'CCC+', and the issue-level rating on the notes due 2022 to 'C' from 'CCC-'. At the same time, we are placing the corporate credit rating and the rating on the notes

...+ U.S.-based hospital operator Community Health Systems Inc. has announced three tender offerings totaling $3.125 billion in aggregate. + Although the maturities in 2019 and 2020 are tendered at par and we would not consider those exchanges as distressed, the 2022 maturities are offered for exchange at a material discount to par, which we would view as a distressed transaction and selective default if those notes are included in the tender. + As a result, reflecting the potential for a selective default, we are lowering the corporate credit rating to '###-' from '###+', and the issue-level rating on the notes due 2022 to 'C' from '###-'. At the same time, we are placing the corporate credit rating and the rating on the notes due 2022 on CreditWatch with negative implications. + The CreditWatch reflects uncertainty regarding how much, if any, of the notes due 2022 that will be exchanged. If the company exchanges a material amount of the notes due 2022, we would likely lower the corporate...

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