Cooper Standard Automotive's $215 million term loan broke at 100 3/4 and moved up to trade steadily at 101 3/4. The deal backs the acquisition of the fluid handling business, ITT Industries. Deutsche Bank is the lead on the deal, which is priced at LIBOR plus 2 1/2% (CIN, 2/3). It has 101 call protection and includes a $25m European carve-out feature. Twenty-five basis points were shaved off the loan.
Moody's Investors Service assigned a B2 rating to the term loan, which is an add-on component to its existing senior secured credit facility. In January, Moody's lowered the ratings of Cooper Standard Automotive and its wholly owned Canadian subsidiary Cooper-Standard Automotive Canada to B2 from B1. The downgrade reflects the weakening of Cooper Standard's credit because of price concessions to OEM customers and higher raw material costs. The agency expects the company to maintain adequate liquidity in 2006 from internal cash generation and the borrowing facilities. Officials at Cooper Standard did not return calls.