S&P assigns Wood MacKenzie B, loans B+

S&P said it assigned a B issuer rating to Planet Holdco 2 Ltd., doing business as Wood Mackenzie, and B+ issue-level and 2 recovery ratings to its planned $150 million revolving credit facility and a $1.3 billion term loan B. The outlook is stable.

“A leveraged capital structure and financial sponsor ownership constrain our view of financial policy. Following the debt issuance, we expect leverage to spike temporarily and then improve to the 5x area in 2024. We believe financial sponsor ownership will limit the company pursuing prudent financial risk policies, given the tendency for financial sponsors to distribute cash to shareholders. We believe modest deleveraging will be propelled by EBITDA growth since its cash flows will be limited by its high capital expenditures (capex),” S&P said in a press release.

Wood Mackenzie plans to use the new term loan to refinance its $1.2 billion term loan.

“The stable outlook reflects our expectation that operating performance will improve, driven by elevated demand and price increases, with EBITDA margins advancing to the 40% area,” the agency said.

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