On March 14, Nordic debt collector Intrum AB (publ) announced the appointment of external advisors to assist the company with ways to strengthen its capital structure. We consider the announcement to signal an increased possibility of a debt restructuring that we may view as distressed. As a result, we lowered to 'B' from 'BB-' our long-term ratings on Intrum and its senior notes and affirmed at 'B' our short-term rating on the company. At the same time, we placed the ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications. The recovery rating on the senior notes is unchanged at '4', indicating our expectation of average (30%-50%, rounded estimate: 40%) recovery in the event of a payment default. The CreditWatch placement incorporates the significant
