...- Peer Holding III B.V., the parent company of the Netherlands-based discount retailer Action, intends to issue a 1.75 billion euro-equivalent term loan B (TLB) and use the proceeds to fund a financing-related distribution to shareholders. We anticipate that the distribution will total up to 2 billion, and will also be in part financed by accumulated surplus cash of about 245 million. - Post-transaction, Action's liquidity will remain adequate and credit metrics relatively conservative, with our expectation of debt to EBITDA of about 3.4x in 2024 compared to 3.1x in 2023. - We therefore affirmed our '##' long-term issuer credit and issue ratings on Peer Holding and its senior secured debt, and assigned our '##' issue rating and '3' recovery rating to the proposed TLB. - The stable outlook reflects our view that Action will continue to expand its store network and maintain solid like-for-like growth, resulting in consistently strong sales expansion, robust margins, and sound cash generation,...
