U.S.-based glass manufacturer Guardian Industries Corp. has disclosed it has sold a substantial minority stake to a subsidiary of Koch Industries Inc. (unrated; collectively Koch). Guardian also has completed a planned partial redemption and exchange of common shares resulting in a significant increase in leverage which is likely to weaken forecasted credit metrics over the next 12 to 18 months. We are lowering our rating on Guardian Industries, Corp., including the corporate credit rating to 'BBB+' from 'A' to reflect the increase in leverage to about 3.8x. Our stable outlook is based on our expectation that Guardian's forecasted free cash flow will result in debt repayment with leverage declining to about 2.5x by the end of 2013. On Dec. 26,
