Moody’s cuts Deerfield Dakota, facilities

Moody's Investors Service said it downgraded the corporate family rating of Deerfield Dakota Holdings LLC, a holding corporation that wholly owns Duff & Phelps Corp., to B3 from B2.

The agency also downgraded the company’s senior secured first-lien bank credit facility and $100 million revolving credit facility to B3 from B2.

The action follows Deerfield Dakota's announcement that it is seeking to increase its existing first-lien term loan by $330 million – to $1.35 billion from $1.02 billion – to fund its acquisition of Kroll, LLC and other expenses.

The outlook was changed to stable from negative.

“The one-notch downgrade to B3 reflects the adverse effect of the significantly increased debt on the company's creditworthiness, which outweighs the positive effects of the company's recent operating results and further increase in scale following the Kroll acquisition,” Moody’s said in a news release.

“The increase in debt comes on top of an incremental $170 million in February 2018 which was used to help fund the acquisition of Duff & Phelps by funds advised by Permira Advisers LLC (unrated) and an incremental $105 million in October 2017 which Duff & Phelps borrowed to help finance a dividend.”

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