Apple Bidco LLC (also known as Atlantic Aviation), a provider of fuel, terminal, aircraft hangaring, and other aviation services, will issue a new $3.29 billion first-lien term loan to repay its existing first-lien debt and help fund a dividend to shareholders. This is the company?s second large debt-funded dividend in the past two years, and we revised our assessment of the company?s financial policy as more in line with a financial sponsor-owned company to reflect this trend of debt-financed dividends and our view that ownership?s investment holding period may be shorter than we previously envisioned. Pro forma for the transaction, S&P Global Ratings-adjusted gross leverage will increase to about 6.8x from 5.8x as of Dec. 31, 2024, below our mid-7x
