Moody’s rates Cookie loan B2

Moody’s Investors Service said it assigned a B2 rating to the €490 million first-lien senior secured term loan B due 2027 and to the €85 million revolving credit facility due 2026 to be borrowed by Cookie Acquisition SAS and a Caa2 rating to the €110 million second-lien senior secured term loan due 2028 to be borrowed by Cookie Acquisition. The outlook is stable.

The company is being used to acquire Biscuit International. Moody’s assigned a first-time B3 corporate family rating and a B3-PD probability of default rating to Cookie Intermediate Holding II SAS, the parent company of Biscuit International.

“Cookie Intermediate’s B3 rating reflects its strong position in the European private label sweet biscuit market, its high operating margins, a degree of geographic diversification across Europe and the historical resilience of the European sweet biscuit market,” Paolo Leschiutta, a Moody’s senior vice president and lead analyst for Biscuit International, in a press release.

“The rating, however, also reflects the company’s high initial financial leverage of 7.6x, on a Moody’s adjusted gross debt to EBITDA basis, which will reduce towards 6.5x by the end of 2021, its selected product focus and relatively small absolute scale, some execution risk on the capability to deliver on the cost optimization plan, a track record of acquisitions and the low growth of the sweet biscuit market across Europe,” added Leschiutta.

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