...- We anticipate a global economic slowdown in 2020 will hurt demand and earnings for U.S.-based Hexion Inc. This follows a year in which competitive pressures caused weaker-than-expected earnings and higher leverage from Hexion's post-emergence capital structure. - As a result, we are lowering our issuer credit rating to 'B-' from 'B'. The outlook is negative. - At the same time, we are lowering our issue-level rating on the company's term loan facility to 'B+' from '##-' with a '1' recovery rating, indicating our expectation for very high recovery (90%-100%; rounded estimate: 95%) in a payment default. We are also lowering the issue-level rating on the company's unsecured notes to '###+' from 'B-' with a '5' recovery rating, indicating our expectation for modest recovery (10%-30%; rounded estimate: 10%). - The negative outlook reflects the risks that macroeconomic conditions could weaken more than we anticipate and, consequently, that leverage could approach double digits....
