Moody’s gives B1 ratings to 888

Moody’s Investors Service said it gave B1 ratings to 888 Holdings plc and its senior secured loans and notes.

888 plans to acquire the non-U.S. business of William Hill, which is expected to be complete on Friday. It will partially finance the deal through a £1.017 billion equivalent facilities split between a dollar-denominated senior secured term loan B and euro senior secured notes, split between floating- and fixed rate yet to be defined, an additional planned £759 million equivalent of senior secured term loan A, in pounds sterling and euros, will have a delayed funding to refinance the outstanding William Hill Ltd. unsecured bonds due 2023 and 2026.

There will also be a £150 million senior secured revolving credit facility issued by 888 Acquisitions LLC.

Moody’s plans to withdraw its William Hill corporate family rating and downgraded the rating on its notes to B2 from B1; “the noteholder that may choose not to exercise their change of control rights will be granted a security package at the level of William Hill and its subsidiaries, but they will not benefit from collateral and guarantees related to the 888 business. Moody's deems such notes to have a lower recovery rate compared to 888 debt,” the agency said in a press release.

The agency assigned a positive outlook. “The positive outlook reflects the view that leverage will trend towards 5.5-5.75x by 2023 and that it has the potential to decrease faster if the company opts for voluntary debt pre-payments in order to achieve the leverage set in its financial policy,” Moody’s said.

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