On July 11, Nordic debt collector Intrum AB (publ) announced it entered a binding lock-up agreement with the majority of its noteholders. In our opinion, this announcement moves the company closer to finalizing a debt exchange that, under the proposed terms, we would deem as distressed. This also supports our view that if the deal falls through, and despite a high cash buffer following the asset sale to Cerberus, Intrum would need to find an alternative route to restructure its capital that might not fully compensate noteholders. As a result, we lowered our long-term issuer credit rating on Intrum to 'CC' from 'CCC'. The negative outlook reflects the increased likelihood that Intrum will undertake an exchange we would deem as
