Intrum AB (publ) (“Intrum” or the “Company”) announces that Moody’s Ratings (“Moody’s”) has upgraded Intrum’s Corporate Family Rating (“CFR”) by two notches, to B3 from Caa2, with a stable outlook.
Moody’s has also upgraded Intrum Investments and Financing AB’s backed senior secured ratings related to the Guaranteed Senior Global Notes, or 2.0 lien notes, to Caa1 from Caa3, and its backed senior secured ratings related to the new money bonds, or 1.5 lien notes, to B2 from B3. The stable outlook for Intrum and Intrum Investments and Financing reflects Moody’s expectation that Intrum’s operating performance will see gradual improvement over the next 12 to 18 months.
Masih Yazdi, CFO of Intrum, comments:
“We welcome that Moody’s recognises the benefits of accelerating our strategy and the progress we are making in strengthening Intrum’s financial position and improving our operational performance. The recently announced capital raise is an important step in reducing leverage, improving financial flexibility, and supporting our continued focus on long-term value creation.”
The rating action follows shareholder approval of Intrum’s fully underwritten SEK 7.5 billion capital raise, which Moody’s expects to further improve Intrum’s leverage and interest coverage through debt redemptions. Moody’s also notes that the capital raise is expected to support profitability and cash flow by making additional funds available for portfolio investments and efficiency initiatives.
Moody’s highlighted its expectation that the Company will further increase the efficiency of its servicing operations and continue to pay down debt from operating cash flow, and noted that Intrum’s focus on leverage reduction contributed to an improvement in its governance issuer profile score and credit impact score.