U.S. sock manufacturer Renfro Corp. recently completed a transaction wherein it issued a $10.1 million priming new money term loan and permitted its existing term loan lenders that participated in the new debt issuance to roll up a portion of its existing term loan into the new priming term loan. We believe this transaction is tantamount to a default on the existing term loan because it is now in a junior collateral position relative to the newly issued tranche and the company's operations are distressed. We are lowering our issuer credit rating on Renfro to 'SD' (selective default) from 'CCC-'. At the same time, we are lowering our issue-level rating on its term loan to 'D' from 'CCC-'. The downgrade
