Moody's upgrades Central European Media

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded Central European Media Enterprises Ltd.'s corporate family rating to B1 from B2, along with its probability of default rating to B1-PD from B2-PD.

The outlook is positive.

The actions follow news that the company intends to apply $100.9 million of proceeds from warrants recently exercised by Time Warner, along with the company's excess cash, to repay €110.0 million of the outstanding principal balance of the 2018 euro term loan, Moody's said.

Concurrent with this news, the company also announced an amendment to their existing term loan package which re-prices and extends the maturities of those loans, the agency said.

This reduces the borrowing costs, extends a majority of its debt maturities by at least two years and improves the company's liquidity, Moody's said.

The upgrade and the positive outlook primarily reflects the continued decrease in leverage achieved by Central European Media, as well as its continued solid operating performance, which is expected to persist over the next couple of years, the agency said.

The ratings are based on the company's significant progress in its operational and financial turnaround since early 2014 and the generation of positive free cash flow in 2015 through 2017, Moody's said.

The ratings also consider the company's historically volatile operating performance, driven by the cyclical nature of its advertising-dependent end markets, the agency said.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.