Advisor Group Holdings Inc. announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire Ladenburg Thalmann, a financial services holding company which owns a group of independent broker-dealers with approximately 4,500 advisors, for $1.3 billion. The deal will largely be debt financed, although the final funding structure and debt terms have not yet been determined. Additionally, the acquisition still has to go through regulatory and shareholder approvals before its expected close in the first half of 2020. Given the uncertainty of the capital structure and resulting debt service coverage, we are placing our 'B+' ratings on Advisor Group on CreditWatch with negative implications. We will resolve the CreditWatch when we get further clarity on the company's plans for
