Research Update: C&S Wholesale Grocers Ratings Affirmed, Off CreditWatch Negative On Debt Repayment; Outlook Stable

Keene, N.H.-based distributor C&S Wholesale Grocers Inc. (C&S) announced in December that it would not renew its contracts with its largest client Ahold Delhaize USA (Ahold). As part of its amended agreement with Ahold, C&S just completed the sale of three warehouses and other related assets for $275 million. C&S also announced that it is using these proceeds and other cash to redeem its $400 million senior secured notes due July 2022. We expect leverage will remain comfortably below 5x on a sustained basis giving the company sufficient cushion at the rating to navigate competitive pressures. We have removed the ratings from CreditWatch with negative implications, where we placed them on Dec. 13, 2019 following the announcement of its key

...- Keene, N.H.-based distributor C&S Wholesale Grocers Inc. (C&S) announced in December that it would not renew its contracts with its largest client Ahold Delhaize USA (Ahold). As part of its amended agreement with Ahold, C&S just completed the sale of three warehouses and other related assets for $275 million. - C&S also announced that it is using these proceeds and other cash to redeem its $400 million senior secured notes due July 2022. We expect leverage will remain comfortably below 5x on a sustained basis giving the company sufficient cushion at the rating to navigate competitive pressures. - We have removed the ratings from CreditWatch with negative implications, where we placed them on Dec. 13, 2019 following the announcement of its key customer loss, and affirmed the 'B+' issuer credit rating. At the same time, we are affirming our '##' issue-level rating on the company's revolver and '##-' issue-level rating on its senior notes. The recovery ratings are unchanged including our...

Research Update