U.S.-based commercial lender Jefferies Finance (JFIN) is increasing its debt leverage to approximately 6x, most recently by issuing a new $215 million senior secured term bank loan due 2020. As a result, we are revising our outlook on the 'B+' issuer credit rating to stable from positive, assigning a 'B+' rating to the new bank loan, and affirming all ratings. The stable rating outlook reflects our expectations that JFIN will continue to operate with leverage between 5x to 6x, with adequate funding and liquidity. On May 8, 2015, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services revised its outlook on Jefferies Finance LLC (JFIN) to stable from positive. We also affirmed all ratings on JFIN, including the 'B+' issuer credit rating. We assigned
