Crown Americas LLC, a U.S. subsidiary of can maker Crown Holdings Inc., is proposing to add $200 million to its existing U.S. dollar-denominated term loan A and use the proceeds to fund its U.S. pension liabilities. Because of the increase in senior secured debt and subsequently less-favorable recovery prospects, we are lowering our rating on the company's senior secured debt to 'BBB-' from 'BBB' and revising the recovery rating to '2' from '1'. At the same time, we are affirming all our other ratings on Crown, including the 'BB+' corporate credit rating. The stable outlook is supported by our expectation for continued strong cash generation and management's desire to drive credit metrics to a level supportive of the ratings. NEW
