S&P rates TVC Albany loans B, CCC

S&P said it assigned its B- corporate credit rating to TVC Albany Inc. (d/b/a FirstLight Fiber). The outlook is stable.

At the same time, S&P assigned a B issue-level rating and 2 recovery rating to FirstLight's proposed first-lien facilities, which consist of a $25 million revolving credit facility due 2022 and a $275 million term loan B due 2024. The 2 recovery rating indicates an expectation for substantial recovery (70%-90%; rounded estimate 70%) for lenders in the event of a payment default.

S&P also assigned a CCC issue-level rating and 6 recovery rating to the company's $100 million second-lien term loan due 2025. The 6 recovery rating indicates an expectation for negligible recovery (0%-10%; round estimate 0%) for lenders in the event of a payment default.

S&P said the ratings on FirstLight reflect its elevated adjusted debt to EBITDA of about 7.3x, and the likelihood that leverage will remain high longer term because of its private equity ownership. The ratings also reflect competition from larger players (including incumbent telephone companies, cable providers, and fiber providers), limited geographic diversity, its small scale, and projected negative free operating cash flow (FOCF) over the next couple of years.

© 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.