Fitch Rates Goodyear's $1B Senior Unsecured Notes 'CCC+'.NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of -- Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings An international rating agency for financial institutions, insurance companies, and corporate, sovereign, and municipal debt. Fitch Ratings has headquarters in New York and London and is wholly owned by FIMALAC of Paris. has assigned debt and Recovery Ratings (RR) of 'CCC+/RR6' to $1 billion of new private placement notes issued by The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (GT). All ratings remain on Rating Watch Negative. The new debt includes $500 million of three-year floating rate notes and $500 million of five-year 8.625% notes. Proceeds will be used to refinance $515 million of debt scheduled to mature by March 2007 and for general corporate purposes, including addressing the ongoing strike by the United Steelworkers United Steelworkers (USW) historic labour union representing workers in steel, aluminum, and other metallurgical industries for much of the 20th century. In the U.S. union. Goodyear's existing debt and recovery ratings (RR) are as follows: --Issuer Default Rating (IDR IDR In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Indonesian Rupiah. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. ) 'B'; --$1.5 billion first lien credit facility 'BB/RR1'; --$1.2 billion second lien term loan 'BB/RR1'; --$300 million third lien term loan 'B/RR4'; --$650 million third lien senior secured notes 'B/RR4'; --Senior unsecured debt Unsecured debt Debt that does not identify specific assets that the debtholder is entitled to in case of default. 'CCC+/RR6'. Goodyear Dunlop Tires Europe B.V. (GDTE) --EUR505 million European secured credit facilities 'BB/RR1'. Fitch placed Goodyear's ratings on Rating Watch Negative on Oct. 18, 2006 following the company's $975 million drawdown Drawdown The peak to trough decline during a specific record period of an investment or fund. It is usually quoted as the percentage between the peak to the trough. Notes: of its $1.5 billion revolver, effectively using the remaining capacity under the revolver. The net addition of nearly $500 million of debt, excluding debt to be refinanced, further supports GT's liquidity during the strike which began Oct. 5. The Rating Watch Negative reflects business risks posed by the strike as well as concerns about GT's evolving financial position and liquidity as the strike continues. Demands on GT's cash include pension contributions, debt service requirements, potential cash requirements related to the resolution of the strike, uncertain access to any additional financing, and continued operating challenges with respect to the company's cost structure and raw material costs. The eventual outcome of the strike will be an important factor in resolving the rating watch. Fitch's Recovery Ratings (RR), introduced in 2005, are a relative indicator of creditor recovery on a given obligation in the event of a default. A broad overview of Fitch's RR methodology as it relates to specific sectors, including a Case Study webcast, can be found at http://www.fitchratings.com/recovery. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used. In many cases, terms of service are used as a contractual agreement between a company and users of a service they provide. of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. The issuer did not participate in the rating process other than through the medium of its public disclosure. |
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