Kronos Acquisition Holdings Inc. was created to acquire KIK Custom Products Inc. for about US$1.6 billion. We are assigning our preliminary 'B-' long-term corporate credit rating ratings to Kronos based on the proposed leveraged buyout. At the same time, we are assigning our preliminary 'B-' issue-level rating to the company's proposed US$850 million senior secured term loan, and our preliminary 'CCC' issue-level rating to the proposed US$390 million senior unsecured notes. We base our assessment on a "weak" business risk profile, reflecting KIK's improving revenue diversity that supports its steady market positions, and a "highly leveraged" financial risk profile that reflects financial sponsor ownership and credit metrics that commensurate with the category. The stable outlook reflects our expectation that the leveraged buyout
