...Strengths: Weaknesses: + Established market position in leveraged loan origination + Long-term, stable funding + Implicit support of Jefferies Group + Business concentration in leveraged finance amid the economic fallout from COVID-19 + Credit risk related to leveraged loans held for investment + Appetite for significant underwriting and undrawn revolving commitments Outlook The negative outlook reflects difficult market conditions and continued economic fallout related to the COVID-19 pandemic. S&P Global Ratings expects that Jefferies Finance LLC (JFIN) will maintain adequate funding and liquidity and will maintain leverage within 4.5x debt to ATE. We expect MassMutual and Jefferies to continue supporting JFIN and the company to remain at least moderately strategically important to the Jefferies Group (Jefferies). We could lower the ratings within the next 12 months if: + Liquidity becomes strained and is no longer adequate, in our view; + Debt to ATE is expected to be above 4.5x; or...
