...September 11, 2019 - Specialty pharmaceutical company Mallinckrodt PLC recently announced a settlement in principle with two Ohio counties, resolving its track one multidistrict opioid litigation (MDL) case for $24 million cash and $6 million in products. The magnitude of the settlement exceeded our expectations. - While Mallinckrodt continues to generate positive free cash flow, we think the company's ability to access capital markets to refinance debt maturities is limited given uncertainty around the company's ultimate exposure to opioid liabilities, which we think could be significant. Given the maturity schedule and current debt trading levels, we think the risk of a distressed exchange is high. - We are lowering our long-term issuer rating on Mallinckrodt to '###' from 'B+' due to our view of heightened risk of a distressed exchange over the next year, prior to any large settlement of opioid claims. - Our outlook is negative, reflecting the possibility that that the company could...
