Cliffs Natural Resources is exchanging various senior notes maturing in 2020, 2021, and 2040 with a proposed $1.25 billion second-lien issue. The company has also proposed a $500 million first-lien issue, with proceeds to be held as cash on the balance sheet to enhance liquidity. We are affirming our 'B' corporate credit rating on Cliffs with a change in the liquidity assessment to "adequate". We are also assigning our 'BB-' issue-level ratings to the proposed $500 million first-lien notes and proposed $1.25 billion second-lien offering with recovery ratings of '1'. We are lowering our senior unsecured issue-level rating to 'CCC+' from 'B', and revising our recovery rating to '6' from '3'. The outlook is stable, based on our expectation that
