Moody's downgrades ATU's corporate family rating to Caa2; outlook negative
Rating Action:
Moody's downgrades ATU's corporate family rating to Caa2; outlook negative
Global Credit Research - 12 Mar 2013
Approximately EUR 590 million rated debt affected
Frankfurt am Main, March 12, 2013 -- Moody's Investors Service has today downgraded to Caa2 from Caa1 the corporate family rating ("CFR") of A.T.U. Auto-Teile-Unger Investment GmbH & Co. KG ("ATU") and to Caa2-PD from Caa1-PD the probability of default rating, while affirming the Caa3 rating of the issuer's EUR 143 million senior subordinated floating rate notes. At the same time, Moody's has downgraded to Caa1 from B3 the EUR 375 million senior secured notes as well as the EUR 75 million senior secured floating rate notes issued by A.T.U. Auto-Teile-Unger Handels GmbH & Co. KG. The outlook on all the existing ratings has been changed to negative from stable.
RATINGS RATIONALE
"The rating action has been triggered by the increased refinancing risk for the outstanding bonds totaling EUR 593 million, falling due between May and October 2014 as well as the company's weaker-than-expected operating performance in H1 of its FY2012/13 ending June 2013." says Oliver Giani, lead analyst at Moody's for ATU. "The weak operating performance during the past two years has not only resulted in elevated leverage ratios, but also makes ATU's refinancing more challenging."
Although ATU's management has been exploring various options to ensure a long-term financing structure ahead of final maturity, no viable and concrete refinancing plan is visible at this stage, given the maturity of the EUR 450 million notes in less than 15 months.
Driven by economic uncertainty and extremely weak consumer sentiment in the automotive after sales market, ATU's sales went down by 1.6% to EUR 1,220 million for the last twelve months ended December 2012. ATU reported a net debt-to-LTM EBITDA ratio of 6.0x as of December 2012, compared to 6.2x one year ago. However, due to weakened EBITDA as adjusted by Moody's (which includes restructuring costs), adjusted debt/EBITDA has been deteriorating to 8.4x as of year-end 2012 from 7.9x one year ago and 7.2x per year-end 2010. According to our base case projections, leverage will stay high at above 8.0x in the next few years, as we do not expect positive free cash flow generation which could be used to reduce debt, nor do we expect any significant improvement in EBITDA. ATU's weak performance in the past two years makes it more challenging to secure the necessary refinancing in the coming months.
We acknowledge that ATU gained some market shares and is well on track to improve its cost base, which has largely offset the decline in top-line to keep EBITDA in the range of EUR 90-100 million (adjusted by ATU). However, this was not sufficient to cover the high interest burden and increased capex during the past two years. We expect ATU's cash flow generation and debt service capacity to remain quite limited in the near term.
As of December 2012, ATU had a cash position of EUR 23 million and a super-senior revolving credit facility ("RCF") maturing in March 2014, which was drawn from time to time to cope with the seasonal swing in working capital. As of December 2012, the EUR 45 million RCF was not utilized. We note that drawings under this facility are dependent on a minimum EBITDA covenant, under which the company had adequate headroom as of December 2012. The company had no short-term debt maturity except the EUR 450 million notes due in May 2014. Moody's cautions that it might be challenging for ATU to renew its RCF before the resolution of the refinancing issue, leading to a potential deterioration of ATU's liquidity profile. Overall, we consider ATU's liquidity profile to be rather weak.
The negative outlook reflects Moody's increased concerns about ATU's ability to secure a long-term financing structure ahead of final maturity. It also reflects the deteriorating trend in leverage during the past two years, which is unlikely to recover in the next few years.
Any indication, that the refinancing cannot be achieved before final maturity, or the company plans to engage in a distressed exchange, would put pressure on the ratings. Downward pressure would also arise if the group's restructuring efforts prove to be insufficient to maintain an earnings level and the leverage would continue to increase. Likewise a deterioration of ATU's liquidity profile would create downward pressure.
We would revise the outlook to stable if ATU is able to timely and sustainably refinance its upcoming debt maturities, and avoid any further deterioration in its leverage ratio and liquidity profile. The rating could be upgraded in case of a reduction in the overall debt level leading to a more sustainable capital structure.
Based in Weiden, Germany, ATU is Germany's leading operator of brand-independent car workshops with integrated specialist auto retail stores. As of December 2012, ATU operated a network of 645 branches, 598 of which are located in Germany, others in Austria, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy. In 2012, ATU generated €1.2 billion revenues through its approximately 12,000 employees. The vast majority of sales (around 80%) are generated in the vehicle workshops through servicing and repairs, with the remaining approximately 20% generated through the sale of auto parts and accessories in stores and online. ATU is owned by private equity firm KKR and management.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was the Global Retail Industry published in June 2011. Other methodologies used include Loss Given Default for Speculative-Grade Non-Financial Companies in the U.S., Canada and EMEA published in June 2009. Please see the Credit Policy page on
Moody's - credit ratings, research, tools and analysis for the global capital markets for a copy of these methodologies.