U.S. arts and crafts retailer, Michaels Companies Inc. recently completed an IPO of its common stock and is using an estimated $466 million of net proceeds to repay a portion of its $800 million paid-in-kind (PIK) toggle notes. We are assigning our 'B' corporate credit rating to the public parent company, Michaels Companies Inc., and a positive outlook. At the same time, we are withdrawing our 'B' corporate credit ratings on subsidiaries Michaels Stores Inc., Michaels FinCo Inc., and Michaels FinCo Holdings LLC. The rating action reflects assignment of the corporate credit rating to the parent company where the financial statements are issued; we analyze the company on a consolidated basis. The positive outlook incorporates our view that credit protection
