Moody’s Investor Services left the debt rating of Cablevision, owned by Altice USA, unchanged after the company took a new $1.5 billion loan due in 2027 to refinance old debt.
Moody’s said the outlook for Cablevision debt was stable and left a B1 Corporate Family Rating and a B1-PD Probability of Default Rating unaffected by the new loan.
“This refinancing is credit positive,” Moody’s said in a statement. “It will be leverage neutral, while improving the weighted average maturity profile to 7.1 years, from 6.2 years, according to management.”
Moody’s said it should lower interest expense for the Long Island City, Queens-based Altice USA whose territories include Nassau and Suffolk counties.
Altice USA serves around 4.9 million residential and business customers, with revenues generated by about 10 million subscribers.
Altice USA is a public company controlled by Patrick Drahi and the direct parent of CSC Holdings, LLC. Revenue for the last 12 months ended June 30, 2019 was approximately $9.7 billion, Moody’s said.
