Jefferies Finance LLC (JFIN) underwrites and syndicates loans to corporate borrowers and has revolving credit commitments in its loan portfolio. Due to financial and economic stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic, we expect higher-than-usual draws on revolving credit commitments and greater difficulty syndicating loans. Therefore, we are placing our 'BB-' issuer credit and senior secured debt ratings and 'B+' senior unsecured debt ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications. The CreditWatch placement primarily reflects our belief that JFIN will see higher-than-usual draws on revolving credit commitments and will have greater difficulty syndicating loans, which could weaken the company's business and liquidity position and result in a downgrade in the next three months. NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) April 3, 2020--S&P Global
