U.S.–based WKI Holding Co. Inc. (WKI) is being acquired by a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) owned by the private-equity arm of GP Investments Ltd., for $566 million. Public shareholders will own the majority of the company and GP Investments will own about 30%. We are affirming our existing 'B' corporate credit rating on WKI (the borrower of the proposed capital structure) and assigning a 'B' corporate credit rating to the new parent entity, World Kitchen Group Inc. (World Kitchen). We are assigning a 'B' issue-level rating and '3' recovery rating to the proposed $275 million senior secured term loan B maturing 2023. The stable outlook reflects our expectation of revenue growth, positive free operating cash flow, good covenant cushion, and
