Research Update: BD White Birch Investment LLC Issuer Credit Rating Raised To 'B+' From 'B' On Stronger Newsprint Prices; Outlook Stable

Operating margins and profits at Greenwich, Conn.-based BD White Birch Investment LLC have strengthened over the past year as a result of a strong rebound in newsprint prices. As a result, the company's credit metrics have improved significantly, with debt to EBITDA leverage decreasing to 3.2x at June 30, 2018 from 4.8x at the end of 2017. We forecast further improvement based on current newsprint prices. We are raising our issuer credit rating on the company to 'B+' from 'B'. At the same time, we are revising our recovery rating on the company's first-lien term loan to '3' from '2'. The issue-level rating on the first-lien term loan remains unchanged at 'B+'. The stable outlook reflects our view that favorable

...+ Operating margins and profits at Greenwich, Conn.-based BD White Birch Investment LLC have strengthened over the past year as a result of a strong rebound in newsprint prices. + As a result, the company's credit metrics have improved significantly, with debt to EBITDA leverage decreasing to 3.2x at June 30, 2018 from 4.8x at the end of 2017. We forecast further improvement based on current newsprint prices. + We are raising our issuer credit rating on the company to 'B+' from 'B'. + At the same time, we are revising our recovery rating on the company's first-lien term loan to '3' from '2'. The issue-level rating on the first-lien term loan remains unchanged at 'B+'. + The stable outlook reflects our view that favorable industry trends in newsprint will enable BD White Birch to generate and maintain adjusted debt-to-EBITDA of about 1.8x over the next 12 months....

Research Update