Exposure to cyclical end markets, in particular the domestic tire industry. Limited customer and geographic diversity. Very aggressive financial policies, including ownership by two private equity firms. The expectation for negative free cash flow through 2014 due primarily to elevated capital spending. We derived our 'B' corporate credit rating on TPC Group Inc. from our anchor of 'b', based on our assessment of a "weak" business risk profile and a "highly leveraged" financial risk profile for the company. Our selection of a 'b' anchor, given two possible outcomes ('b' or 'b-'), reflects the company's weighted credit measures that are in the stronger end of the "highly leveraged" band. No modifiers were used. A key underpinning of the rating is our
