OREANDA-NEWS. S&P Global Ratings today assigned its 'B' issue-level rating and '3' recovery rating to Cincinnati, Ohio-based Cincinnati Bell Inc.'s proposed $425 million senior unsecured notes with an eight-year maturity. The '3' recovery rating indicates our expectation for meaningful recovery (50%-70%; lower end of the range) of principal for lenders in the event of a payment default.

We expect the company will use net proceeds from the offering along with cash from the balance sheet to redeem all of its $397 million outstanding of 8.375% senior unsecured notes due 2020 including estimated fees and expenses.

The 'B' corporate credit rating and stable outlook on Cincinnati Bell are unchanged since we don't expect the transaction to materially affect leverage. Adjusted leverage including pension obligations was about 4.6x as of June 30, 2016, and we expect will remain in the mid-4x area by year-end 2016.