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       T R O U B L E D   C O M P A N Y   R E P O R T E R

                          E U R O P E

          Friday, April 26, 2019, Vol. 20, No. 84

                           Headlines



G E O R G I A

BANK OF GEORGIA: Fitch Affirms BB- IDRs & Alters Outlook to Stable


G E R M A N Y

REVOCAR UG 2019: Moody's Assigns Ba1 Rating on EUR7.1MM Cl. D Notes
TELE COLUMBUS AG: Fitch Alters Outlook on 'B' IDR to Negative


L U X E M B O U R G

MALLINCKRODT INTERNATIONAL: Moody's Cuts CFR to B1, Outlook Neg.


R U S S I A

ABH FINANCIAL: S&P Raises ICRs to 'BB-/B' on Resilient Risk Profile
BANK IBSP: Bankruptcy Hearing Scheduled for April 30
RADIOTECHBANK PJSC: Declared Bankrupt by Nizhny Novgorod Court
RUSSIAN MORTGAGE: Declared Bankrupt by Moscow Arbitration Court


S P A I N

ADVEO GROUP: Posts Loss of More Than EUR180 Million for 2018
INSTITUT CATALA: Fitch Affirms LT IDR at 'BB', Outlook Stable


S W E D E N

SAMHALLSBYGGNADSBOLAGET: Fitch Hikes EUR300MM Bond to 'BB(EXP)'


S W I T Z E R L A N D

CEVA LOGISTICS: S&P Cuts ICR to 'B+' on Acquisition by CMA CGM


U N I T E D   K I N G D O M

AMPHORA FINANCE: Fitch Affirms 'B' LongTerm Issuer Default Rating
CASUAL DINING: Appoints James Spragg as New Chief Executive
CHESTER A PLC: Moody's Assigns Ba3 Rating on GBP40MM Class E Notes
EG GROUP: Fitch Rates $1.52-BB Planned Sr. Secured Notes 'B+(EXP)'
EG GROUP: S&P Assigns B Rating to New Sr. Secured Notes 'B'

INTERNATIONAL PERSONAL: Moody's Assigns Ba3 CFR, Outlook Stable
INTERSERVE PLC: Finance Chief Steps Down After Administration
LINKS OF LONDON: Dismisses CVA, Sale Rumors
LONDON CAPITAL: Angry Bondholders Criticize FCA, Accountants
WILLIAM HILL: S&P Rates New GBP350MM Sr. Unsecured Notes 'BB'


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G E O R G I A
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BANK OF GEORGIA: Fitch Affirms BB- IDRs & Alters Outlook to Stable
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Fitch Ratings has affirmed the Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings of
JSC TBC Bank Group and JSC Bank of Georgia at 'BB-' and revised
their Outlooks to Stable from Positive. Fitch has also affirmed the
Long-Term IDRs of JSC Liberty Bank at 'B+' and Procredit Bank
(Georgia) at 'BB+' with Stable Outlooks.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

IDRs, SUPPORT RATINGS, SUPPORT RATING FLOORS, SENIOR DEBT RATINGS

The IDRs of TBC, BOG and LB are driven by the banks' intrinsic
strength, as reflected by their Viability Ratings. BOG's senior
unsecured debt is rated in line with its Long-Term IDR.

The revision of the Outlooks on TBC and BOG to Stable from Positive
reflects its view of still significant risks associated with
continued rapid loan growth and sizable foreign currency lending.

The IDRs and VRs of TBC, BOG and LB, and the VR of PCBG, reflect
their exposure to the still relatively high-risk Georgian operating
environment. These ratings also reflect the four banks' generally
sound financial metrics, reflected in reasonable asset quality
metrics, strong performance, adequate capitalisation and stable
funding profiles and comfortable liquidity.

LB's lower VR and Long-Term IDR factor in its moderate market
shares compared with BOG and TBC, its large, albeit decreasing,
exposure to unsecured retail lending and its as yet untested growth
in the corporate segment following ownership and strategy changes.

PCBG's IDRs and Support Rating are driven by the potential support
it may receive from its sole shareholder, ProCredit Holding AG &
Co. KGaA (PCH, BBB/Stable), in case of need. In Fitch's view, PCH
will continue to have a high propensity to provide support to its
Georgian subsidiary given the importance of Georgia to the group,
full ownership, common branding, strong operational and management
integration between the parent and the subsidiary and a record of
capital and liquidity support.

Fitch caps PCBG's ratings at one notch above the 'BB' sovereign
rating to reflect the country risks that domestic banks are exposed
to. In its view, in case of extreme macroeconomic and sovereign
stress scenarios, these risks could limit PCBG's ability to service
its obligations or the parent's propensity to continue providing
support, or both.

The affirmation of BOG, TBC and LB's Support Ratings at '4' and
Support Rating Floors (SRFs) at 'B' reflects Fitch's view of the
limited probability of support being available from the Georgian
authorities, in case of need. Fitch believes that the authorities
would likely have a high propensity to support BOG, TBC and LB, at
least in the near term, in light of their high systemic importance
(BOG/TBC) and extensive branch network and role in distributing
pensions and benefits (LB).

However, the ability to provide support, especially in FC, may be
constrained, given the banks' large FC liabilities (USD6.1 billion
at end-2018) relative to sovereign FX reserves (USD3.3 billion at
end-2018). Furthermore, Fitch understands that the National Bank of
Georgia (NBG) plans to submit to parliament draft legislation on
bank resolution. If legislation is ultimately adopted that provides
a credible framework for the bail-in of senior creditors of failed
banks, then Fitch would likely downgrade the Support Ratings of
TBC, BOG and LB to '5' and revise their SRFs to 'No Floor'.

VRs

The VRs of all four banks reflect their exposure to the still
relatively high-risk Georgian operating environment. The VRs of
TBC, BOG and PCBG also consider their high FC lending and, in the
cases of TBC and BOG, their rapid growth in what Fitch considers to
be potentially high-risk FC mortgage lending in 2H18.

The four banks' VRs also reflect the relatively good near-term
growth prospects for the Georgian economy, which should help
support lenders' generally sound financial profiles. Regulatory
constraints on retail lending from 2019, including more stringent
affordability criteria and an increased minimum limit for FC
lending (GEL200,000 vs. GEL100,000 in 2018) also somewhat reduce
the potential for further high-risk credit growth.

The VRs of TBC and BOG further reflect their dominant positions in
the local banking sector (38% and 35% of total sector assets at
end-2018, respectively) and significant pricing power, which has
underpinned their healthy profitability through the recent economic
cycle.

LB's and PCBG's VRs reflect their only moderate market shares (5%
and 4% of total sector assets, respectively) and focus on specific
groups of customers (unsecured retail lending at LB and niche SME
lending at PCBG). Recent changes in LB's strategy and its growing
corporate franchise are yet to be tested and may pressure the
bank's margins, as the share of good-quality borrowers is limited
and competition is high.

TBC

Impaired loans (Stage 3 under IFRS 9) represented a moderate 3.4%
of loans at end-2018, based on preliminary financial statements.
Loan loss reserves covered a comfortable 94% of impaired loans and
unreserved impaired loans represented a low 1% of Fitch Core
Capital (FCC).

Borrower concentrations are moderate compared with some regional
peers, with the 25 largest borrowers accounting for 19% of gross
loans, or 101% of FCC at end-2018. Dollarisation of the loan book
remained high at 60% at end-2018, about 36% of which were FC
mortgages issued mostly to unhedged borrowers (equal to 112% of
TBC's FCC). Unsecured retail lending amounted to a further 93% of
the bank's FCC.

Profitability is a rating strength. The operating profit to
risk-weighted assets (RWA) ratio reached 4.9% in 2018 (2017: 4.6%)
and the net interest margin is high at approximately 7%, supported
by 21% loan growth. Declining operating expenses relative to gross
revenues (37%) and moderate impairment charges (1.6% of average
loans) supported a strong return on average equity (ROAE) of 22% in
2018.

TBC's FCC/RWA ratio was high at 19% at end-2018. This is higher
than prudential regulatory capital ratios (Tier 1: 12.8% and total
17.9%) due to the more conservative regulatory risk-weighting of
assets. Management's target is to maintain a minimum 1% buffer over
the minimum requirements (11.8% and 16.7%, respectively, including
buffers) which Fitch views as reasonable.

Funding is mainly sourced from stable customer accounts (62% of
total liabilities at end-2018, excluding government deposits).
Concentrations are moderate, as the 20 largest depositors accounted
for 22% of total customer accounts at end-2018. Funding from
international financial institutions (IFIs) was a notable 16% of
total liabilities, but the maturity schedule is comfortable, and
TBC has a track record of refinancing maturing debt. A further 14%
of liabilities were short-term repo funding from the NBG (5%) and
government deposits (9%). Its estimate is that the buffer of liquid
assets (cash, interbank assets and unpledged securities net of
wholesale debt repayments and maturing government deposits in the
upcoming 12 months) was sufficient to withstand an outflow of a
moderate 7% of customer accounts at end-2018.

BOG

Impaired loans (Stage 3 under IFRS 9) stood at 6.6% of loans at
end-2018, with only moderate coverage by total loan loss allowances
of 50%. Unreserved impaired loans accounted for a notable 19% of
FCC. Concentration of loans remained moderate compared with some
regional peers, with the 25 largest borrowers accounting for 18% of
gross loans at end-2018, or 104% of FCC.

Dollarisation of loans is stable at a high 57% at end-2018. FC
mortgages contributed a notable 35% of total FC loans (117% of
BOG's FCC) and are issued mostly to unhedged borrowers. Unsecured
retail lending accounted for a further 116% of FCC.

Profitability was strong at BOG, driven by continued rapid lending
growth (2018: 23%), with the ratio of operating profit to RWAs
equal to 4% in 2018, supported by a relatively stable net interest
margin (7%). Operating expenses were broadly stable at 38% of gross
revenues and impairment charges were a moderate 1.7% of average
loans, resulting in a strong ROAE of 22% in 2018 (25% in 2017).

The FCC/RWA ratio was moderate at 13.5% at end-2018. Regulatory
capitalisation was weaker, with the Tier 1 and Total capital ratios
equal to 12.2% and 16.6%, respectively (prudential minimums are
11.4% and 15.9%, respectively, including buffers). In March 2019,
BOG issued perpetual Additional Tier 1 notes equal to about 2% of
end-2018 RWAs, to boost regulatory capitalisation. BOG plans to
maintain a buffer of 2% over its minimum prudential capital
requirements.

Stable customer deposits represent BOG's core source of funding,
accounting for 64% of total liabilities at end-2018. Concentrations
are moderate, with the 20 largest depositors accounting for 16% of
total customer accounts. Bonds accounted for a further 13% of total
funding, including USD350 million Eurobonds maturing in 2023. Its
assessment is that liquid assets were sufficient to withstand an
outflow of a low 5% of total customer accounts.

LB

LB's loan portfolio growth of 22% in 2018 was mainly driven by the
corporate and SME segments. Retail loans continue to dominate the
portfolio (81% of end-2018 loans) but growth is constrained by
regulations on unsecured lending. The quality of the retail
portfolio is stable and preliminary financial statements indicate
that impaired loans (Stage 3 loans under IFRS 9) stood at a high
10% of gross retail loans, comfortably reserved at 115%.

Risks in unsecured lending (62% of total loans or 2.4x FCC) are
partly mitigated because a large share of borrowers have regular
inflows into their accounts held at the bank and these can be
debited to meet loan repayments at the bank's discretion. The share
of FC lending, at 22% of loans at end-2018, is significantly below
the market average (57%), which Fitch views positively.

Corporate and SME lending is an area for expansion under the bank's
new ownership. These segments represented 19% of gross loans at
end-2018, which brings moderate diversification to the loan
portfolio. However, rapid growth in this segment may put pressure
on asset quality as the portfolio seasons.

LB's profitability is strong, underpinned by still wide margins
(15%). Profitability was supported by improved operating efficiency
(cost-to-income ratio of 56% in 2018) and stable loan impairment
charges on retail loans. As a result, operating profit remained a
solid 5% of RWAs and ROAE was 23%.

The FCC/RWA ratio remained strong (17%) and stable. Capitalisation
and leverage is a relative rating strength for LB. Regulatory
capital ratios are lower (Tier 1 and Total capital ratios at 14.1%
and 17.7%, respectively, at end-2018). LB does not operate with
ratios significantly above minimum capital requirements (including
buffers) but the bank plans to attract subordinated debt in 1H19 to
support its regulatory capitalisation.

The bank's funding and liquidity profile is a rating strength, in
its view. Customer deposits represented 94% of LB's liabilities at
end-2018. Concentrations are rising with the 20 largest depositors
representing 20% of total liabilities at end-2018 (end-2017: 12%).
The bank's liquidity was sufficient to cover a high 38% of customer
deposits.

PCBG

PCBG's asset quality benefits from a well-controlled risk appetite
supervised by the parent group. According to preliminary end-2018
financial statements, impaired loans (IFRS 9 Stage 3 loans)
represented 2.7% of gross loans, reserved at 92%. Loans in FC
constitute a high 77% of total loans and the share of naturally
hedged borrowers is limited. The loan book was moderately
concentrated: exposure to the 25 largest clients was equal to 101%
of the bank's FCC at end-2018.

Net interest margins are declining (4.9% in 2018, down from 5.5% in
2017) reflecting a shift towards larger SMEs and intensified
competition on the market. Pre-impairment profitability remained
stable at 3% of gross loans in 2018, supported by improved
operating efficiency (cost/income ratio of 53% in 2018 compared to
58% in 2017). Profitability benefited from (unsustainable) zero
loan impairment charges, resulting in operating profit equal to 3%
of RWAs in 2018 (2017: 2%) and a ROAE of 14%.

The FCC/RWA ratio declined to 17% at end-2018 from 19% at end-2017
due to the transition to IFRS 9, which consumed a moderate 4% of
end-2017 equity, and dividend payouts. The bank maintains a 2%
buffer above minimum prudential capital ratios and its Tier 1 and
total capital ratios reached 13.4% and 17.8%, respectively, at
end-2018. The bank's capitalisation benefits from ordinary support
from PCH, as possible capital pressures, if any, would likely be
offset by equity injections from the parent.

Compared to peers, PCBG's funding profile is more reliant on
wholesale markets. Customer deposits represented 53% of total
liabilities at end-2018. Loans from IFIs stood at 20% of
liabilities, while funds from PCH and sister banks added 24%.
PCBG's liquidity cushion (cash, unpledged securities eligible for
repo and short-term bank placements) was sufficient to cover all
expected outflows of wholesale debt in 2019.

SUBORDINATED DEBT AND OTHER HYBRID SECURITIES (BOG)

The affirmation of BOG's perpetual additional Tier 1 notes at 'B-'
reflects their higher loss severity in light of their deep
subordination, and additional non-performance risk relative to the
VR. Non-performance risk reflects the write-down trigger (core
equity Tier 1 ratio falling below 5.125% or intervention by the
NBG) and fully discretionary coupon omission. The rating is three
notches below BOG's VR. According to its criteria, this is the
highest possible rating that can be assigned to deeply subordinated
notes issued by banks with a VR anchor of 'bb-'.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

IDRs, VRs, SUPPORT RATINGS, SUPPORT RATING FLOORS, SENIOR DEBT
RATINGS

Fitch does not anticipate changes to TBC's, BOG's and LB's VRs in
the near term and consequently the Outlooks on the banks' IDRs are
Stable. Upside potential could arise from improvements in the
operating environment, for example driven by further
diversification and growth of Georgia's economy. A notable decrease
in loan dollarisation rates at the banks could be positive for TBC
and BOG, while LB's ratings are also sensitive to a positive track
record of the bank's performance under the new strategy.

Downgrades of the IDRs and VRs of BOG, TBC and LB, and of PCBG's
VR, could result from a material increase in risk appetite or a
marked deterioration in asset quality, leading to a substantial
weakening of capitalisation.

Upside for PCBG's VR is currently limited, given its moderate
franchise and profitability and higher share of FC lending. PCBG's
support-driven IDRs are sensitive to Fitch's assessment of support
from PCH and country risk considerations associated with Georgia.

The Support Ratings and SRFs of TBC, BOG and LB are sensitive to
changes in the overall probability of sovereign support. A change
in the sovereign rating could affect this, although this is
considered unlikely in the foreseeable future given the Stable
Outlook on Georgia's sovereign rating. If legislation is adopted
which provides a credible framework for the bail-in of senior
creditors of failed banks, then Fitch would likely downgrade the
Support Ratings of TBC, BOG and LB to '5' and revise their SRFs to
'No Floor'.

SUBORDINATED DEBT AND OTHER HYBRID SECURITIES (BOG)

Fitch may widen the rating notching between the notes and BOG's VR
if non-performance risk increases. The rating of the notes would
also be downgraded if the instrument becomes non-performing, i.e.
if the bank cancels any coupon payment or at least partially writes
off the principal. Upside for the notes is limited, as per Fitch's
criteria the minimum notching of deeply subordinated instruments
would increase to four notches, should BOG's VR be upgraded to
'bb'.

The rating actions are as follows:

Bank of Georgia

  Long-Term Foreign- and Local-Currency IDRs affirmed at
  'BB-'; Outlook revised to Stable from Positive

  Short-Term Foreign- and Local-Currency IDRs affirmed at 'B'

  Support Rating affirmed at '4'

  Support Rating Floor affirmed at 'B'

  Viability Rating affirmed at 'bb-'

  Senior unsecured long-term rating affirmed at 'BB-'

  Subordinated debt rating affirmed at 'B-'

TBC Bank

  Long-Term Foreign-Currency IDR affirmed at 'BB-';
  Outlook revised to Stable from Positive

  Short-Term Foreign-Currency IDR affirmed at 'B'

  Support Rating affirmed at '4'

  Support Rating Floor affirmed at 'B'

  Viability Rating affirmed at 'bb-'

Liberty Bank

  Long-Term Foreign-Currency IDR affirmed at 'B+';
  Outlook Stable

  Short-Term Foreign-Currency IDR affirmed at 'B'

  Support Rating affirmed at '4'

  Support Rating Floor affirmed at 'B'

  Viability Rating affirmed at 'b+'

ProCredit Bank (Georgia)

  Long-Term Foreign- and Local-Currency IDRs affirmed
  at 'BB+'; Outlook Stable

  Short-Term Foreign- and Local-Currency IDRs affirmed at 'B'

  Support Rating affirmed at '3'

  Viability Rating affirmed at 'bb-'




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G E R M A N Y
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REVOCAR UG 2019: Moody's Assigns Ba1 Rating on EUR7.1MM Cl. D Notes
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Moody's Investors Service has assigned definitive ratings on the
following asset-backed securities (ABS) Notes issued by RevoCar
2019 UG (haftungsbeschraenkt):

  EUR366.0 million Class A Floating Rate Asset Backed Notes due
  April 2033, Definitive Rating Assigned Aaa (sf)

  EUR18.7 million Class B Fixed Rate Asset Backed Notes due April
  2033, Definitive Rating Assigned A1 (sf)

  EUR4.1 million Class C Fixed Rate Asset Backed Notes due April
2033, Definitive Rating Assigned Baa2 (sf)

  EUR7.1 million Class D Fixed Rate Asset Backed Notes due April
  2033, Definitive Rating Assigned Ba1 (sf)

Moody's has not assigned ratings to the EUR 4.1M Class E Fixed Rate
Asset Backed Notes.

RATINGS RATIONALE

The rating assignment reflects the transaction's structure as a
revolving cash securitisation of agreements entered into for the
purpose of financing vehicles predominantly to private obligors in
Germany by Bank11 fuer Privatkunden und Handel GmbH (NR). This is
the sixth public securitisation transaction of Bank11 in Germany
rated by Moody's. The originator will also act as the servicer of
the portfolio during the life of the transaction.

The securitized portfolio of underlying assets consists of auto
loans distributed through auto dealers in Germany and has a total
value of around EUR400 million.

of March 31, 2019, the final pool cut shows 100% non-delinquent
contracts with a weighted average seasoning of around 5.9 months.
The loans in the portfolio finance new cars (36.72%) and used cars
(63.28%) to private customers (96.44%) and commercial customers
(3.56%).

According to Moody's, the transaction benefits from credit
strengths such as the granularity of the portfolio and the
favorable economic environment in Germany. In addition, the
contractual documents will include the obligation of the cash
administrator (The Bank of New York Mellon) to estimate amounts due
in the event a servicer report is not available. This reduces the
risk of any technical non-payment of interest on the Notes.

However, Moody's notes some credit weaknesses such as linkage to
Bank11, limited historical data provided by Bank11, and commingling
risk. Various mitigants are in place such as a back-up servicing
facilitator, an independent cash manager, nine months of liquidity
available to pay senior fees and interest on Class A Notes in a
servicer termination event.

Commingling risk is mitigated by funding of a commingling reserve
at closing which will be adjusted in line with the expected
collections on a monthly basis. Moody's stressed its main
assumptions to account for the lack of historical data provided.

Moody's analysis focused, amongst other factors, on (i) the
evaluation of the underlying portfolio of financing agreement; (ii)
the macroeconomic environment; (iii) historical performance
information; (iv) the credit enhancement provided by subordination
and excess spread (v) the liquidity support available in the
transaction, by way of principal to pay interest and the liquidity
reserve fund for senior fees and Class A Notes coupon payments
(subject to servicer related trigger events); (vi) the back-up
servicing facilitator; and (vii) the legal and structural integrity
of the transaction.

The automotive sector is undergoing a technology-driven
transformation which will have credit implications for auto finance
portfolios. Technological obsolescence, shifts in demand patterns
and changes in government policy will result in some segments
experiencing greater volatility in the level of recoveries,
residual values compared to that seen historically. For example,
diesel engines have declined in popularity and older engine types
face restrictions in certain metropolitan areas. Similarly the rise
in popularity of Alternative Fuel Vehicles introduces uncertainty
in the future price trends of both legacy engine types and AFVs
themselves due to evolutions in technology, battery costs and
government incentives. As at the cut-off date March 31, 2019, the
securitised portfolio is backed by 41% of vehicles, which were
registered in 2015 or earlier, i.e. before Euro 6 emissions
standards were introduced (however, no information was provided on
the share of diesel engines in this sub-pool). Moody's has also not
received information related to the share of AFVs including hybrids
in the pool. Additional scenario analysis has been factored into
its rating assumptions for certain segments of the portfolio. There
are no RV-risks in the transaction.

MAIN MODEL ASSUMPTIONS

Moody's determined the portfolio lifetime expected defaults of
2.0%, expected recoveries of 30.0% and Aaa portfolio credit
enhancement of 10.0%. The expected defaults and recoveries capture
its expectations of performance considering the current economic
outlook, while the PCE captures the loss it expects the portfolio
to suffer in the event of a severe recession scenario. Expected
defaults and PCE are parameters used by Moody's to calibrate its
lognormal portfolio loss distribution curve and to associate a
probability with each potential future loss scenario in its ABSROM
cash flow model to rate Consumer and Auto ABS.

Portfolio expected defaults of 2.0% are in line with the EMEA Auto
Loan average and are based on Moody's assessment of the lifetime
expectation for the pool taking into account (i) historic
performance of the loan book of the originator, (ii) benchmark
transactions, and (iii) other qualitative considerations.

Portfolio expected recoveries of 30.0% are in line with the EMEA
Auto Loan average and is based on Moody's assessment of the
lifetime expectation for the pool taking into account (i) historic
performance of the loan book of the originator, (ii) benchmark
transactions, and (iii) other qualitative considerations.

PCE of 10.0% is in line with the EMEA Auto Loan average and is
based on Moody's assessment of the pool taking into account (i)
this is the sixth transaction rated by Moody's from this
originator, (ii) a degree of uncertainty considering the depth of
data Moody's received from the originator to determine the expected
performance of the portfolio, and (iii) the relative ranking to its
peers in the German auto loan market. The PCE level of 10.0%
results in an implied coefficient of variation ("CoV") of approx.
60.0%.

METHODOLOGY

The principal methodology used in these ratings was "Moody's Global
Approach to Rating Auto Loan- and Lease-Backed ABS" published in
March 2019.

FACTORS THAT WOULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS:

Factors that may lead to an upgrade of the Class B, Class C and
Class D Notes rating include significantly better than expected
performance of the pool.

Factors that may cause a downgrade of the Class A, Class B, Class C
and Class D Notes include a decline in the overall performance of
the pool, or a significant deterioration of the credit profile of
the originator Bank11.


TELE COLUMBUS AG: Fitch Alters Outlook on 'B' IDR to Negative
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Fitch Ratings has revised the Outlook on Tele Columbus AG's
Long-Term IDR to Negative from Stable and affirmed the IDR at 'B'.
Fitch has also downgraded the rating on Tele Columbus's senior
secured debt instruments to 'B+'/'RR3' from 'BB-'/'RR2'.

The Negative Outlook reflects a spike in funds from operations
adjusted net leverage to 6.6x at the end of 2018 and its
expectation that it is likely remain high during 2019 before the
company is able to delever in 2020 to below its downgrade threshold
of 6.0x. Fitch believes that the execution risks to increase EBITDA
and improve free cash flow required to reduce leverage remain high,
which drives the Negative Outlook. High capex, significant
integration costs for the operations acquired in 2015 and related
operational challenges contributed to the leverage increase in
2018. With the integration complete, the company should be able to
demonstrate improving operational and financial performance in 2019
and 2020, leading to positive FCF generation.

The downgrade of the senior secured debt reflects the reassessment
of a sustainable post-restructuring EBITDA level in its recovery
analysis.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

Leverage Spike: Fitch expects Tele Columbus's FFO adjusted net
leverage to have peaked at 6.6x at end-2018 and to gradually reduce
to below the downgrade threshold of 6.0x in 2020. The company's
2018 normalised EBITDA declined by 11% yoy, driven primarily by a
challenging integration process resulting in operating
underperformance and material one-off costs. Refinancing costs also
contributed to increased leverage, although positively, the two
debt refinancing deals in 2018 improved the company's liquidity
profile and debt maturity profile. Management guides for largely
stable EBITDA and capex in 2019, which translates into a modest
decline in leverage, based on its analysis.

Integration Challenges: The integration with Pepcom and Primacom
took longer than initially expected by management and Fitch and was
a drag on the company's operating and financial performance in
2018. Non-recurring cost items, although reduced, remained high at
EUR46 million in 2018 compared with EUR67 million in 2017. These
included integration costs as well as expenses related to the
switch from analogue signal to digital. Tele Columbus completed the
integration of all systems, footprint harmonisation and relaunched
its advanced TV proposition in 2018. Management guides that some
non-recurring expenses are likely in 2019 but they will be
materially lower than in 2018.

Medium-term Outlook: Tele Columbus's management has guided for
broadly stable revenue and EBITDA for 2019 relative to 2018 and low
to mid-single digits revenue growth in the medium term. Capex will
remain elevated in 2019, at around 32% of revenue, and will start
to decline from 2020. Fitch understands that the effect of
transformation projects and marketing campaigns launched by the
management in 2018 will take time to impact financial performance,
hence its more cautious view for 2019, with more positive
expectations for 2020 and beyond. Fitch expects Tele Columbus will
stabilise its subscriber revenue generating units in 2019 and start
generating positive FCF from 2020 once capex has peaked and EBITDA
returns to growth.

Rational Cable Competition: Cable competition in Germany is
rational and primarily based on legacy cable infrastructure, with
limited footprint overlaps and low appetite for opportunistic new
network expansion. Fitch believes this should allow Tele Columbus
to maintain its strong regional market share. The company holds an
above 50% cable market share in territories where around two-thirds
of its 3.3 million connected homes are located. The company's
ability to upsell internet, premium TV and telephony to existing
basic cable subscribers is the main driver of revenue growth. Fitch
expects broadband market in Germany to continue growing at
low-single digits in the medium term, driven mostly by customers
switching to higher speed internet connections.

A potential merger of Vodafone and cable operator Unitymedia may
change the competitive landscape in the German market over the
medium term. The consolidation of the cable market in Germany is
expected to lead to significant cost synergies and allow Vodafone
to compete far more effectively in fixed and convergent services.
On a more positive note, Tele Columbus is likely to be a remedy
taker as the only remaining large independent cable company in the
German market. Fitch does not incorporate any impact from this deal
into Tele Columbus's rating at this stage as the
Vodafone-Unitymedia deal as well as any regulatory remedies have
not been approved.

Long-Term Contract Relationships: Tele Columbus benefits from
long-term contracts with housing associations, which ensures
stability of its core revenues, protects against excessive
competition with other cable companies and helps keep churn under
control. Bulk contracts with HAs for basic TV service have a
typical duration of eight to 10 years. A relationship with the HA
is likely maintained for a long time once it has been established.
A switch to a new network operator would require new equipment
installation and/or network rewiring, which HAs are generally keen
to avoid

Limited Infrastructure Competition: Cable operators typically have
exclusive access to their client HAs, with only incumbent Deutsche
Telekom (BBB+/Stable) able to offer a full range of competing
premium services including broadband connection, premium TV and
mobile service on own wireline infrastructure.

DERIVATION SUMMARY

Tele Columbus has a significantly smaller operational scale than
its closest domestic peer Unitymedia (B+/RWP), the second-largest
cable company in Germany. Unitymedia has broadbly similar leverage
but its rating benefits from better infrastructure, a larger
footprint and sustained strong FCF. Unitymedia also reports higher
blended average revenue per user and revenue generating unit per
customer.

Liberty Global's cable subsidiaries Virgin Media and UPC Holding
are rated 'BB-' due to lower leverage, solid financial profiles and
stronger market positions. VodafoneZiggo has a stronger operating
profile and is broadly equally leveraged, and as a result is rated
'B+'. Cable companies typically have looser leverage thresholds
than mobile and fixed-line operators due to the more sustainable
nature of their business and stronger FCF.

KEY ASSUMPTIONS

Fitch's Key Assumptions Within Its Rating Case for the Issuer

  - Flat revenue in 2019 followed by low-single digits growth
    in 2020-2022

  - Fitch-defined normalised EBITDA margin of 47% in 2019 growing
    to 50% by 2021

  - Capital intensity at 32% in 2019 declining to 29% by 2021

  - No M&A transactions

  - No dividend payments

KEY RECOVERY RATING ASSUMPTIONS

  - The recovery analysis assumes that Tele Columbus would be
    considered a going concern in bankruptcy and that the company
    would be reorganised rather than liquidated.

  - A 10% administrative claim.

  - The going-concern EBITDA estimate of EUR181 million reflects
    Fitch's view of a sustainable, post-reorganisation EBITDA
level
    upon which it bases the valuation of the company.

  - The going-concern EBITDA is 20% below Fitch-defined 2018
EBITDA
    level with a portion of company-reported non-recurring items
    treated as an ongoing cost and assuming likely operating
    challenges at the time of distress.

  - An enterprise value (EV) multiple of 6x is used to calculate
    a post-reorganisation valuation and reflects a conservative
    mid-cycle multiple.

  - Fitch assumes that EUR6 million loans at operating subsidiaries

    will have a priority over senior secured instruments

  - Fitch estimates the total amount of secured debt for claims at
    EUR1.4 billion, which includes EUR782 million senior secured
    term loans and EUR650 million secured notes and undrawn EUR50
    million RCF as of end-2018.

  - Fitch estimates the expected recoveries for senior secured
debt
    at 65%. This results in the senior secured debt being rated
    'B+'/'RR3', one notch above the IDR.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

Developments that May, Individually or Collectively, Lead to a
Stabilisation of the Outlook

  - A successful operational turnaround accompanied by improving
    subscriber metrics as well as EBITDA growth

  - FFO adjusted net leverage sustainably below 6.0x

Developments that May, Individually or Collectively, Lead to
Negative Rating Action

  - FFO adjusted net leverage above 6.0x on a sustained basis
    without a clear path for deleveraging

  - Significant shortening of the remaining contract life with HAs

LIQUIDITY AND DEBT STRUCTURE

Robust Liquidity: Tele Columbus has a comfortable liquidity
position with EUR41 million of cash on the balance as of mid-March
2019, an untapped EUR50 million revolving credit facility and no
material debt repayments until 2023. Fitch expects the company to
start generating positive FCF from 2019, which is also supportive
of its liquidity.




===================
L U X E M B O U R G
===================

MALLINCKRODT INTERNATIONAL: Moody's Cuts CFR to B1, Outlook Neg.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Moody's Investors Service downgraded Mallinckrodt International
Finance SA's Corporate Family Rating to B1 from Ba3 and Probability
of Default Rating to B1-PD from Ba3-PD. Moody's downgraded the
senior secured revolver and term loans to Ba2 from Ba1, the
guaranteed senior unsecured notes to B2 from B1, and the
unguaranteed senior unsecured notes to B3 from B2. The Speculative
Grade Liquidity Rating was upgraded to SGL-2 from SGL-3. The
outlook remains negative.

The downgrade of the CFR to B1 reflects Moody's view that
debt/EBITDA will remain moderately high at over 4 times gross
debt/EBITDA through 2020. This is high in the context of
Mallinckrodt's business risks. These include revenue concentration
in Mallinckrodt's largest product, Acthar, and opioid related
litigation. Further, the company faces a number of headwinds over
the next several years including the loss of patent exclusivity on
Ofirmev in January 2021 and rising competitive pressures in
Mallinckrodt's largest franchises. Absent significant progress in
its pipeline, Moody's believes Mallinckrodt will face multiple
years of earnings stagnation or declines.

The outlook is negative, reflecting the rising likelihood of a
spin-off of its specialty generics business and Amitiza into an
independent public company. While there would be some credit
positive aspects to a spin-off, Moody's believes it is likely that
leverage would not decline enough to offset the reduced scale and
diversity of the company. Mallinckrodt expects the spin-off to be
completed in the second half of 2019.

The upgrade of the Speculative Grade Liquidity Rating reflects
reduced borrowings on the revolver following significant debt
repayment since funding the acquisition of Sucampo Pharmaceuticals
over a year ago.

Ratings downgraded:

Mallinckrodt International Finance SA:

  Corporate Family Rating to B1 from Ba3

  Probability of Default Rating to B1-PD from Ba3-PD

  Senior unsecured notes to B3 (LGD6) from B2 (LGD6)

Mallinckrodt International Finance SA and co-borrower Mallinckrodt
CB LLC:

  Senior secured term loan B due 2024 and 2025 to Ba2 (LGD2)
  from Ba1 (LGD2)

  Senior secured revolver expiring 2022 to Ba2 (LGD2) from Ba1
(LGD2)

Mallinckrodt International Finance SA and co-borrower Mallinckrodt
CB LLC:

  Guaranteed unsecured notes to B2 (LGD5) from B1 (LGD5)

Rating upgraded:

  Speculative Grade Liquidity Rating to SGL-2 from SGL-3

Outlook Actions:

Outlook remains negative

RATINGS RATIONALE

Mallinckrodt's B1 CFR reflects its elevated financial leverage and
high earnings concentration in one drug, Acthar. Mallinckrodt faces
challenges to return Acthar to long term revenue growth due in part
to significant hurdles that patients face to get their insurance
company to pay for the drug. At the same time, the company's
business profile will undergo significant change over the next few
years, as Mallinckrodt continues to exit non-branded segments, and
faces potential new competition on several of its largest
franchises. Given these challenges, Moody's forecasts that adjusted
debt/EBITDA will remain above 4.0 times through 2020 and will
increase in 2021. Mallinckrodt's ratings are supported by its
moderate scale in specialty branded pharmaceuticals, its growing
hospital-based business and good late-stage pipeline. The rating is
also supported by the company's strong free cash flow and
demonstrated commitment to repay debt with free cash flow.

The SGL-2 Speculative Grade Liquidity Rating reflects Moody's view
that Mallinckrodt's liquidity will be good over the next 12 months.
Mallinckrodt had $349 million of cash at December 28, 2018. It has
a $900 million revolver that expires in early 2022 and had $220
million drawn as of December 28, 2018. Moody's expects good cash
generation in excess of $500 million in 2019 (including the generic
segment). Mallinckrodt has $950 million of debt that matures
through July 2020, including its $250 million fully drawn accounts
receivable facility. The revolver has a springing 5x net leverage
covenant if more than 25% of the facility is drawn. Moody's
believes the covenant will not be tested throughout 2019 with
revolver borrowings falling below 25%.

Based on Mallinckrodt's existing business profile, Moody's could
downgrade Mallinckrodt's ratings if it believes that debt/EBITDA
will be sustained above 4.5x or if Acthar declines increase.
Moody's could upgrade the ratings if the company can meaningfully
improve its earnings diversity while maintaining debt/EBITDA below
3.5x.

The principal methodology used in these ratings was Pharmaceutical
Industry published in June 2017.

Luxembourg-based Mallinckrodt International Finance SA is a
subsidiary of Staines-upon-Thames, UK-based Mallinckrodt plc.
Mallinckrodt is a specialty biopharmaceutical company with reported
revenues of approximately $3.2 billion.




===========
R U S S I A
===========

ABH FINANCIAL: S&P Raises ICRs to 'BB-/B' on Resilient Risk Profile
-------------------------------------------------------------------
S&P Global Ratings said that it raised its long-term issuer credit
rating on ABH Financial Ltd. (ABH) to 'BB-'. S&P said, "At the same
time, we affirmed the 'B' short-term issuer credit rating on ABH
and the 'BB+/B' long- and short-term issuer credit ratings on
Alfa-Bank JSC, the ABH group's main operating entity. The outlook
on both entities is stable. We raised our rating on Alfa-Bank's
subordinated debt to 'B+' from 'B'."

S&P said, "The upgrade of ABH, the non-operating holding company of
Alfa-Bank JSC, reflects our view that consolidated group's risk
profile has proven resilient to the challenging operating
conditions in Russia, as seen in consistently good revenue
generation and lower-than-average credit costs over the recent
years. The group's consolidated return on equity (ROE) stood at
22.4% for 2018 (15% for 2017), while new loan-loss provisions
remained at a low 0.92% in 2018 compared with the market average of
2.2%-2.5%.

"We note the group's significant progress in reducing credit risk
concentrations. The 10 largest credit risk concentrations had
reduced to 21.7% of the total loan book as of year-end 2018,
against 27.4% a year earlier. We also expect that the ABH group
will successfully manage the risks associated with its relatively
aggressive retail lending expansion, thanks to management's good
market knowledge and the bank's significant earnings buffer, which
should protect the bank from elevated retail credit costs in the
future. We have therefore revised up our assessment of the ABH
group's credit profile to 'bb+' from 'bb'.

"At the same time, we continue to notch down the ratings on
non-operating holding company ABH, as we believe that its debt
payment capacity remains reliant on dividends from the main
operating subsidiaries, which are prudentially regulated and may
therefore be the subject to potential restrictions. We also expect
that leverage at the level of the holding company will reduce in
the next 12-18 months from about 111% at the end of 2018, as ABH is
planning to gradually reduce the amount of outstanding debt.

"We still consider Alfa-Bank to have high systemic importance in
Russia and believe there is a moderately high likelihood that the
Russian government would provide extraordinary support to Alfa-Bank
if needed. But we no longer incorporate an additional notch of
support from the Russian government into our rating on Alfa-Bank,
given our belief that the bank's SACP has strengthened to 'bb+'.
The gap between the bank's and sovereign's creditworthiness is now
too narrow to provide for substantial extraordinary support that
would translate into additional notches into the rating.

"The ratings on Alfa-Bank continue to reflect our 'bb-' anchor for
banks operating predominantly in Russia, as well as our view of
Alfa-Bank's leading competitive position among private-sector banks
in Russia in terms of assets, product lines, and efficiency. The
bank continues to maintain adequate capitalization, with our
risk-adjusted capital (RAC) ratio at around 8.5%. We expect the
bank to maintain ROE at 15%-18% in the next 12-18 months. We view
positively the bank's efficient risk management framework and
absence of direct lending, as well as its very swift reaction to
collateral foreclosure, which supports asset quality management,
even in downturns. We assess the bank's funding as average and
liquidity as adequate. We consider the bank has better access to
capital markets than local peers.

"The stable outlooks on both ABH and Alfa-Bank reflect our view
that Alfa-Bank will remain a core operating entity of the ABH
group, maintaining sound operating performance and high
risk-management standards over the next 12-18 months.

"The possibility of a negative rating action on Alfa-Bank is
currently remote, because it would require significant
deterioration in its creditworthiness, with our assessment of the
bank's SACP deteriorating by two notches or more.

"If Alfa-Bank's SACP were to deteriorate by one notch, we would
expect to include one notch of support for systemic importance. We
could take a negative rating action on ABH if, contrary to our
base-case scenario, we did not think the group would successfully
manage the risks associated with its expansion in the retail
segment, with new loan loss provisions significantly exceeding
market average metrics."

A positive rating action on either entity is also remote at this
stage, as it would require either significant improvement in the
group's capitalization levels (with the RAC ratio at sustainably
above 10%) or, generally, a more supportive operating environment
for banking business in Russia.


BANK IBSP: Bankruptcy Hearing Scheduled for April 30
----------------------------------------------------
The provisional administration to manage the credit institution
Bank IBSP (JSC) (hereinafter, the Bank) appointed by virtue of Bank
of Russia Order No. OD-2853, dated October 31, 2018, following the
banking licence revocation, in the course of its inspection of the
Bank established that the Bank's executives had conducted
operations which suggest the intention to divert assets by
transferring claims on a number of counterparties to their
shareholder unable to fulfil obligations assumed.

According to preliminary estimates, the value of the Bank's assets
is no more than RUR10.8 billion whereas its liabilities to
creditors stand at RUR23.9 billion.

On November 12, 2018, the Bank of Russia applied to the Court of
Arbitration of Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad Region to declare
the Bank insolvent (bankrupt).  The court hearing is scheduled for
April 30, 2019.

In addition to the information sent earlier, the Bank of Russia
submitted information on financial transactions suggestive of
criminal offence conducted by the Bank's executives to the
Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation and the
Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the
Russian Federation for consideration and procedural
decision-making.


RADIOTECHBANK PJSC: Declared Bankrupt by Nizhny Novgorod Court
--------------------------------------------------------------
The provisional administration to manage the credit institution
Public Joint-stock Company Nizhny Novgorod commercial bank
RADIOTECHBANK (hereinafter, the Bank) appointed by virtue of
Bank of Russia Order No. OD-210, dated January 31, 2019, following
the revocation of its banking license, in the course of its
inspection of the credit institution established that the Bank's
executives conducted operations which suggest the intention to
divert the Bank's assets by lending to borrowers with dubious
creditworthiness or invariably unable to meet their obligations.

The provisional administration estimates the value of the Bank's
assets to be no more than RUR2.3 billion, vs RUR3.3 billion of its
liabilities to creditors.

These developments resulted in the Arbitration Court of the Nizhny
Novgorod Region recognizing the Bank as bankrupt on March 19, 2019.
The State Corporation Deposit Insurance Agency was appointed as a
receiver.

The Bank of Russia submitted the information on the financial
transactions suggestive of criminal offence conducted by the Bank's
executives to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian
Federation, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian
Federation and the Investigative Committee of the Russian
Federation for consideration and procedural decision-making.


RUSSIAN MORTGAGE: Declared Bankrupt by Moscow Arbitration Court
---------------------------------------------------------------
The provisional administration to manage CB Russian Mortgage Bank
LLC (hereinafter, the Bank) appointed by virtue of Bank of Russia
Order No. OD-3034, dated November 23, 2018, following the banking
license revocation, in the course of the inspection of the credit
institution established that the Bank's executives conducted
operations which suggest the intention to divert the Bank's assets
through lending to borrowers unable to fulfil their obligations.

The provisional administration estimates the value of the Bank's
assets to be no more than RUR6.1 billion, vs RUR8.4 billion of its
liabilities to creditors.

On March 20, 2019, the Arbitration Court of the city of Moscow
recognized the Bank as bankrupt. The State Corporation Deposit
Insurance Agency was appointed as receiver.

In addition to the information sent earlier, the Bank of Russia
submitted information on financial transactions suggestive of
criminal offence conducted by the Bank's executives to the
Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation and the
Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the
Russian Federation for consideration and procedural
decision-making.




=========
S P A I N
=========

ADVEO GROUP: Posts Loss of More Than EUR180 Million for 2018
------------------------------------------------------------
Andy Braithwaite at OPI reports that European wholesaler ADVEO has
posted a loss for 2018 of more than EUR180 million (US$202
million).

The beleaguered firm, which is in insolvency, filed its 2018
results with the Spanish stock market on April 1, OPI relates.

According to OPI, there was a significant deterioration of the
group’s financial result in the second half of the year, largely
due to a fixed asset impairment charge of almost EUR130 million.
This led to an operating loss for the 12 months to December 31,
2018, of EUR145.7 million, a pre-tax loss of EUR179 million and a
net loss of EUR183.6 million, OPI states.

ADVEO's sales for the year were EUR343.5 million, a year-on-year
decline of 28%, OPI discloses.  Sales in the second half of the
year fell by around 37% to EUR147.4 million as the stock
availability situation worsened in Germany, Spain and Italy, OPI
notes.

As reported by the Troubled Company Reporter-Europe on Nov. 22,
2018, Bloomberg News related that Adveo's board asked for voluntary
credit protection, the company said in a regulatory filing on Nov.
13.  The office supplies company had been in talks with investors
to find alternatives to the refinancing, Bloomberg noted.
Creditors had informed the company of early maturity of outstanding
amounts, leading to liquidation, Bloomberg disclosed.

Adveo Group International SA is based in Madrid, Spain.


INSTITUT CATALA: Fitch Affirms LT IDR at 'BB', Outlook Stable
-------------------------------------------------------------
Fitch Ratings has affirmed Institut Catala de Finances' Long-Term
Issuer Default Ratings at 'BB' with a Stable Outlook and Short-Term
IDR at 'B'. The long- and short-term ratings on ICF's senior
unsecured outstanding bonds and commercial paper (CP) programme
have also been affirmed at 'BB' and 'B', respectively.

Fitch classifies ICF as a government-related entity (GRE) of the
regional government of Catalonia (BB/Stable/B), factoring in the
regional government's full ownership and the irrevocable and
unconditional guarantee of ICF's financial obligations granted by
the regional government of Catalonia, according to what was
established in the July 29, 2011 amendment to the regional Decree
Law 4/2002.

Under Fitch's GRE top-down rating approach, the strength of linkage
with the regional government as well as the incentive to provide
support lead to an overall score of 25 points so that ICF could be
credit linked to the regional government of Catalonia, but the
irrevocable and unconditional guarantee allow us to override this
and equalise ICF's rating with the regional government of
Catalonia's rating.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

Status, Ownership and Control Assessed as Strong

ICF is wholly owned by the regional government of Catalonia. As a
public entity in case of dissolution its asset and liability would
revert to the regional government. ICF has gradually become more
independent, to the point that the regional government has only
four representatives out of eleven on the board of directors. The
three main commissions (Executive, Audit and Control, Remuneration
and Appointment) have a majority of independent members.

Support Track Record and Expectations Assessed as Very Strong
ICF's ratings mirror those of Catalonia, particularly following the
region's enhanced support for ICF via a statutory guarantee as a
result of the July 29, 2011 amendment to the regional Decree Law
4/2002. ICF has not received capital injections from the regional
government of Catalonia since 2011 to finance its new activity.
Fitch considers that the regional government would provide support
on a timely fashion if ICF needed it.

Socio-Political Implications of Default Assessed as Moderate
ICF plays an important role in promoting regional development. It
was created to channel public credit and foster the economic and
social development of Catalonia, in particular SMEs. There are more
than 219,000 SMEs in Catalonia, accounting for 66.1% of total
employment. ICF has a market share of approximately 7% of lending
to its relevant segment of enterprises in Catalonia, and Fitch
considers that the market is relatively concentrated. Nevertheless,
ICF is an anticyclical entity, increasing the concession of
financing when private credit become more restricted. Since 2011,
ICF has posted positive net results of a cumulative EUR70 million.

Financial Implication of Default Assessed as Moderate
ICF had EUR459 million debt securities outstanding at the end of
2018, and a default of ICF would have a negative impact on the
image/creditworthiness of the regional government of Catalonia.
Eurostat classifies ICF as a financial institution
(non-administrative body) of the regional government of Catalonia.
ICF's results and debt are therefore not included in the regional
government's accounts. Approximately 85% of the regional
government's debt is currently in the form of state mechanisms, so
Fitch currently considers that a hypothetical default of ICF would
have only moderate implications for the regional government's
funding.

In 2018, ICF generated a result before taxes of EUR15.8 million
while its outstanding loans and guarantees were valued at EUR1.82
billion, from total assets of EUR2.35 billion. Its coverage ratio
was estimated at 136.1%, which is high compared with other credit
institutions in Spain. Credit risk has strengthened throughout the
years and its solvency ratio according to Basel 3, was high at
39.8% at the end of 2018. Meanwhile At end of 2018 liabilities with
financial institutions reached EUR1.3 billion versus EUR1.5 billion
in 2017.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

Changes to Catalonia's ratings would be mirrored on ICF's ratings.
Furthermore, Fitch would reassess ICF's ratings if there was a
change to the statutory guarantee, although this is currently
unlikely.




===========
S W E D E N
===========

SAMHALLSBYGGNADSBOLAGET: Fitch Hikes EUR300MM Bond to 'BB(EXP)'
---------------------------------------------------------------
Fitch Ratings has upgraded the Swedish property company
Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden AB's Long-Term Issuer Default
Rating to 'BBB-' from 'BB+' and removed it from Rating Watch
Positive. A Stable Outlook has been assigned.

Fitch has also upgraded SBB's proposed EUR300 million hybrid bond
to 'BB(EXP)' from 'BB-(EXP)'. The conversion of the expected rating
into a final rating is contingent on the receipt of final
documentation.

These upgrades reflect SBB's disposal of a major asset (its DNB
commercial office building for SEK4.9 billion) and a change in the
company's portfolio mix towards social infrastructure (elderly care
homes, group housing and schools) and residential properties.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

Improving Leverage: The proposed EUR300 million hybrid bond and the
sale of the DNB building will strengthen SBB's capital structure
and Fitch forecasts pro-forma net debt-to-EBITDA to fall below 10x
at end-2019 as a result of various transactions. The de-leveraging
profile thereafter will depend on the timing and type of
acquisitions bought with realisation proceeds. The hybrid issue
follows class D ordinary share and other hybrid bond issues during
2018 and in 1Q19, and a recent tightening of the group's financial
policy (including a loan-to-value (LTV) target below 50%).

Simplified Capital Structure: Measures taken by SBB have gradually
simplified its capital structure and aligned it closer to a
standard corporate financing structure. The proposed hybrid issue
and part of the DNB building proceeds will be used to repay secured
debt and leave more assets unencumbered. All unsecured bonds are
now issued by the parent company following an issuer swap from a
legacy subsidiary issuer. Preference shares in SBB's subsidiary
Hogkullen, which Fitch treated as debt, and some of SBB's
preference shares that attracted 50% equity credit, have been
replaced by the newly issued class D ordinary shares.

Developing Access to Capital: SBB has developed its capital market
access via unsecured bond issuance, the establishment of commercial
paper programmes in both Swedish krona and euro, the issuance of
hybrid bonds (SEK1.9 billion outstanding as at end-2018) and class
D shares. SBB's class D shares are ordinary shares that receive a
larger share (at a 5:1 ratio) of ordinary dividend than standard
shares up until a fixed amount (SEK2 per year). Unlike preference
shares there is no deferral interest, nor any right to redeem. SBB
targets a listing of its shares on the main market on the Nasdaq
Stockholm Stock Exchange.

Niche Community Service Assets: Following the sale of the DNB
building, SBB's remaining portfolio is focused on community service
properties and regional residential. The community service
properties have an indirect and direct government tenant base
including government departments, municipalities, elderly care, and
LSS (disabled) group housing. The portfolio is located mainly in
Sweden and Norway, with a few properties in Finland.

Bespoke Nature of Some Assets: The community service-orientated
portfolio contains some bespoke regional and niche assets such as
schools, city halls, regional municipal's offices, and elderly
people's apartments. Although on long-dated leases, their rental
evidence may be difficult to ascertain; however, these leases have
contractual indexed uplifts. Management states that a large share
of these scheduled leases that will expire in the coming years are
with community service tenants who have been in the same building
for more than 10 or even 20 years so renewal is likely. For these
types of niche assets, Fitch believes that there are fewer
alternative domestic investors compared with commercial property.
SBB's residential portfolio is regional and benefits from the
stability of rents under Sweden's rental regulation and a shortage
of available rented housing.

Greater Leverage Headroom: The mix of contractual longevity of
income (average lease length of seven years), a stable tenant base
and the resultant low-income yield of the residential portfolio
affords SBB slightly greater financial leverage headroom than EMEA
commercial property portfolios, which have shorter lease length and
whose rental values are more sensitive to economic cycles.

Building Rights Disposals: A key part of SBB's strategy is to
create building rights for residential projects by acquiring
properties and land with development potential and to apply for
zoning approval. SBB pre-sells these building rights, directly or
in JVs, to developers who take on the development risk. Cash
receipts from the sale of building rights and its timing are
conditional on receiving zoning approval. The proceeds are a form
of capital gain, which Fitch excludes from rental-derived EBITDA,
but represent forecasted cash inflows that support SBB's
deleveraging capacity.

Founder Influence: SBB's ownership is concentrated in CEO Ilija
Batljan, who has around a 40% voting share, resulting in some key
man risk. SBB has made a number of ongoing improvements to its
corporate governance structure, such as appointing a new Deputy
CEO, COO and Head of Investor Relations. SBB's earlier arrangement
of using a related-party property management company has been taken
in-house and the CEO is prepared to widen the equity base with
institutional investors.

Hybrid Notched off IDR: The proposed EUR300 million hybrid is rated
two notches below SBB's IDR. It reflects the hybrid's deeply
subordinated status, ranking behind senior creditors, with coupon
payments deferrable at the discretion of the issuer and no formal
maturity date. It also reflects the hybrid's greater loss severity
and higher risk of non-performance relative to senior obligations.
The proposed securities qualify for 50% equity credit in accordance
with Fitch's hybrid criteria, until there is less than five years
left to its effective maturity date, which occurs when the coupon
step-up exceeds 100bp.

DERIVATION SUMMARY

With the lower-yielding nature of SBB's residential rental
portfolio and longer lease length than peers' (from both community
service assets and average tenure of residential assets), and
portfolio mix, Fitch has allowed SBB more leverage headroom and
lower interest cover than (i) commercial property-orientated
Swedish peers, and (ii) EMEA peers with commercial property
companies that underpin its EMEA REIT Navigator mid-point
guidelines.

Fitch views SBB's portfolio as more stable due to the strength of
Swedish residential property with its regulated below-open market
rents and the community service properties' stable tenant base with
longer-term leases. This is slightly tempered by the regional
location of assets within SBB's portfolio. SBB's portfolio
fundamentals are less sensitive to economic cycles than commercial
office property companies that are reliant on open market
conditions with multiple participants affecting market
fundamentals.

KEY ASSUMPTIONS

  - Successful issue of the EUR300 million (SEK3 billion
equivalent)
    hybrid in 2019 and final documentation of the hybrid fulfilling

    Fitch's criteria for 50% equity credit.

  - Completion of the announced SEK4.9 billion disposal of the DNB

    building with proceeds used to (i) repay associated secured
funding
    and (ii) for planned property acquisitions.

  - SEK1 billion of capital repayment in 2019 from newly created
joint
    ventures as they refinance the assets SBB contributed.

  - Recurring rental income at end-2018 equivalent to SEK1,585
million.

  - Like-for-like rental income growth of around 2% per year
    (indexed leases).

  - Additional rental growth from SEK400 million-SEK500 million
capex
    investments with a 10-12 year payback period.

  - Net operating income (NOI) margin is a blend of around 80%
    for community service properties' income, and residential
around 50%.

  - Building rights disposals of SEK650 million in 2019, SEK645
million
    in 2020 and SEK792 million in 2021. Thereafter SEK250 million
per year.

  - Central administration cost base at SEK75 million (after an
    increase to SEK102 million in 2018, which included one-off
costs).

RATING SENSITIVITIES

Developments That May, Individually or Collectively, Lead to
Positive Rating Action

  - Longer track record (including of Building Right receipts),
    and a simplified financing structure.

  - Unencumbered asset cover above 2.0x (2018 Actual: 1.1x).

  - Well-laddered debt maturity schedule with longevity.

  - Fixed charge cover (FCC) ratio greater than 2.3x (2018: 1.5x)

  - Net debt-to-EBITDA of less than 9.5x (funds from operations  
    (FFO)-based net equivalent under 10.5x)

  - 12-month liquidity score above 1.0x (2018: 1.9x)

Developments That May, Individually or Collectively, Lead to
Negative Rating Action

  - Reversal of group transparency and expansion of the group's
    equity base.

  - Heavier weighting in secured debt and more encumbered assets

  - Acquisitions that (due to being over-priced) reduce FCC below
1.8x

  - Net debt-to-EBITDA greater than 10x

  - Group LTV approaching 60% (compared with individual propco
    covenant breach levels of 70%-75%)

LIQUIDITY AND DEBT STRUCTURE

Adequate Liquidity: At end-2018, SBB had SEK157 million in readily
available cash and SEK2.2 billion of committed undrawn credit
facilities (increased to SEK2.7 billion after year-end). Debt
maturities are less concentrated than at domestic peers with SEK2.2
billion or 14% of total debt maturing in 2019 (cumulatively 19% by
end-2020). During 1Q19, SBB issued a total of SEK700 million of
bonds with five-year maturities. In addition, SBB is scheduled to
receive over SEK0.65 billion of cash flow from building rights
monetisation in 2019.

Mix of Debt Creditors: Within over SEK16 billion of total
Fitch-adjusted debt as of end-2018, SEK4.2 billion was unsecured
debt. This is small compared with SEK10.5 billion of secured bank
loans and bonds. SBB is looking to increase the proportion of
unsecured as secured debt matures and use a share of DNB proceeds
and the hybrid proceeds to repay secured debt, which should leave
more assets unencumbered. The average cost of debt (including the
hybrid coupons) was 2.7% at end-2018.




=====================
S W I T Z E R L A N D
=====================

CEVA LOGISTICS: S&P Cuts ICR to 'B+' on Acquisition by CMA CGM
--------------------------------------------------------------
S&P Global Ratings lowered the issuer credit rating on CEVA
Logistics AG to 'B+' from 'BB-' and removed the ratings from
CreditWatch negative, where it placed them on Feb. 4, 2019. S&P is
also lowering its issue credit ratings on CEVA's debt to 'B+' from
'BB-'.

After the settlement of its public tender offer to acquire CEVA,
CMA CGM controls CEVA, with 97.89% of its outstanding shares. S&P
said, "Therefore, we now assess CEVA's overall credit quality
within the context of the combined creditworthiness of CMA CGM and
CEVA, and CEVA's status within the enlarged group. We view CEVA as
a core entity in the group and therefore equalize our rating on the
company with that on the parent CMA CGM and the consolidated group
credit profile (GCP) of 'b+'. This is one notch lower than CEVA's
stand-alone credit profile, which we continue to assess as 'bb-'."

CEVA offers integrated logistics services and supply chain
management solutions across more than 160 countries. The company
reported revenues of $7.36 billion and S&P Global Ratings-adjusted
EBITDA of $547 million in 2018. CMA CGM is the third-largest
provider of container shipping services in the world. The company
reported revenues of $23.5 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $2.8
billion in 2018.

In S&P's view the GCP is primarily constrained by:

-- The combined group's high financial leverage, with a pro forma
ratio of adjusted funds from operations (FFO) to debt of about 12%
and adjusted debt to EBITDA of 5.0x-5.2x at transaction close;

-- The susceptibility of CMA CGM's EBITDA to the shipping
industry's cyclical swings, heavy exposure to fluctuations in
bunker fuel prices, and the liner's limited short-term flexibility
to adjust its operating cost base to falling demand and freight
rates; and

-- CEVA's participation in the highly fragmented and thin-margin
logistics industry, with CEVA competing against larger players,
which weighs on its growth prospects and profitability.

That said, as one of the largest container liners in the world, CMA
CGM benefits from a large, young, and diverse fleet, and strong
customer diversification. CMA CGM operates services globally
through a broad and strategically located route network that helps
it ride out regional downturns. S&P said, "We believe that the
significant consolidation that has occurred in the container liner
industry in recent years could help CMA CGM to achieve less
volatile profits through the industry cycle. We also factor in the
company's ability to continue reducing cost per container
transported, as demonstrated by a strong track record of
overachieving cost-reduction targets in the past few years."

CEVA's strong client retention rates and long-standing
relationships across broadly diversified end-markets provide
further support to the combined group's business profile. S&P said,
"In addition, while bidding for contracts is competitive and can
pressure margins, we believe that CEVA will continue reducing its
exposure to underperforming contracts. According to our base case,
CEVA's EBITDA (pre-IFRS 16) will increase to an average of $325
million in 2019-2020 from $192 million in 2018 (adjusted for
share-based compensation of $32 million, IPO costs of $19 million,
and $20 million dividends received from the Anji-CEVA joint
venture)." The EBITDA improvement is on the back of the largely
completed restructuring of the contract logistics operations in
Italy, which depressed CEVA's EBITDA by $42 million in 2018, and
other onerous contracts, as well as margin improvement initiatives
taking effect. In addition, the freight-forwarder CCLog, which CEVA
is acquiring from CMA CGM, will contribute about $50 million to
CEVA's EBITDA by 2020.

S&P said, "We believe the combined CMA CGM and CEVA entity will
benefit from its larger scale, enhanced product offering, improved
customer proposition, and a closer integration of services. This
will likely create operating and revenue synergies across the two
businesses that might help offset some of the inherent volatility
of the container liner industry. We note that CMA CGM has also
demonstrated its ability to extract synergies.

"Our base-case forecasts for both companies incorporate a recovery
in CMA CGM's and CEVA's earnings in 2019 after the companies' weak
EBITDA performance in 2018. Based on this forecast, and coupled
with potential synergies, we believe that there is at least a
one-in-three chance that the consolidated group will achieve
adjusted FFO to debt of 16%-17% and adjusted debt to EBITDA of
4.0x-4.5x in 2019-2020, which would be consistent with a higher
rating. We therefore maintain a positive outlook on the combined
entity, in line with the existing outlook on CMA CGM.

"The positive outlook reflects that on CMA CGM and a one-in-three
likelihood that we could upgrade CEVA over the next 12 months.

"We could raise the rating if the adjusted FFO-to-debt ratio of the
combined group is set to exceed 16%, which we view as possible in
the next 12 months. A higher rating would be supported by the
parent CMA CGM generating less volatile profits as a result of the
consolidation in the container liner industry, the company's cost
reductions, and greater vertical integration. The upgrade would
also depend on CMA CGM's investment policy decisions continuing to
support such an improvement in financial measures and its
maintenance of adequate liquidity (including ample headroom under
the financial covenants).

"We would revise the outlook to stable if the combined entity's
operating performance trailed behind our base-case forecast,
precluding the FFO-to-debt ratio from reaching more than 16%.

"This could happen if CMA CGM's earnings were below our base case,
due to, for example, lower freight rates or a larger surge in
bunker prices than we factor into our base case, which CMA CGM was
unable to pass on to its customers via freight rates or
counterbalance through a significant reduction of unit costs.

"We could also revise the outlook to stable if CMA CGM's investment
strategy was more aggressive than we anticipated, for example if
the company placed a large order of new containerships, resulting
in debt increasing beyond our base case."




===========================
U N I T E D   K I N G D O M
===========================

AMPHORA FINANCE: Fitch Affirms 'B' LongTerm Issuer Default Rating
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Fitch Ratings has affirmed Amphora Finance Limited's Long-Term
Issuer Default Rating at 'B'. The Outlook is Stable. Fitch has also
affirmed the rating on Amphora's senior secured GBP301 million Term
Loan B, due in 2025, at 'BB-' with a Recovery Rating of 'RR2'.

Amphora is a holding company that wholly owns Australia-based wine
producer, Accolade Wines. Accolade is the fifth-largest wine
company globally by volume and a leading player in the UK and
Australian markets.

The affirmation reflects that no significant or unexpected changes
to the business have occurred following the closing of Accolade's
acquisition by Carlyle Group. Amphora's metrics have remained in
line with its expectation when Fitch assigned the rating.

The rating and Stable Outlook continue to reflect Accolade's strong
business profile, given its market positions in core geographies,
high-quality asset base and diversified sourcing arrangements. Its
credit profile continues to be constrained by the group's high
leverage, defined as funds from operations (FFO) adjusted net
leverage. Fitch expects leverage to remain above 6.5x - the level
where Fitch would consider taking negative rating action - in the
financial year ending June 2019 (FY19) as the handover to new
management occurs. However, Fitch expects Accolade's leverage to
fall below this level from FY20. Fitch also continues to expect the
company to take longer than its target of four years to achieve a
company-defined net debt/EBITDA ratio of 3.0x or lower.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

Sustained High Leverage: Carlyle's acquisition of Accolade and
subsequent changes to the capital structure has resulted in
Accolade having pro forma leverage of 6.9x at FYE18. Accolade plans
to deleverage using operating cash flow, but Fitch expects no
significant deleveraging until FY20 because the company's
construction of its Berri botting facility will only be completed
at FYE19 - as well as the company's transition to its new ownership
and management. Accolade's financial profile would improve, and
positive rating action may result, if it can achieve its target of
reducing leverage to 3.0x within four years, although this is not
Fitch's base case.

Premiumisation to Drive Growth: The trend towards premiumisation,
or appealing to consumers by emphasising exclusivity and better
quality, is a key growth driver in the wine industry, particularly
in Accolade's key markets of Australia and the UK. Fitch believes
Accolade's portfolio is well-positioned to capture outsized growth
in premium product categories, supported by its recent acquisitions
of Grant Burge and Fine Wine Partners, which bolstered the group's
premium wine portfolio. Accolade's ability to promote these wines
is key to the company achieving revenue growth in these markets
over the medium term.

Focus on Growth in China: Accolade aims to increase its limited
footprint in China, which is among the world's largest wine
consumers (nearly 7% of volume in 2016, according to the University
of Adelaide). Fitch expects further growth in China, which ranks
below global averages in annual consumption per capita, at around 1
litre/person against the global average of 3 litres/person and over
20 litres/person in Australia and the UK. Imported wines are also
becoming increasingly popular with Chinese consumers, and Accolade
is expanding into China's competitive market after the success of
other Australian wine producers, namely Treasury Wine Estates
Limited and Yellow Tail.

Accolade's success in achieving its stated growth target will
depend on securing appropriate distribution channels, correct
portfolio positioning, and execution of its plan using a measured
approach; this should help rein in costs, which Fitch assesses as a
crucial risk to this strategy.

Leading Global Wine Producer: Accolade is the fifth-largest wine
group in the world by volume. It is the leading player in the UK by
volume and value (8% market share), which is twice the market of
the second-largest UK competitor. In Australia, it is the leading
player by volume and number two by value. The UK and Australia rank
third and fourth, respectively, in per capita wine consumption
globally and consumption has been resilient even during economic
downturns. Accolade's portfolio of around 50 brands supports its
market position, and includes Hardys - the best-selling wine brand
in the UK and one of the top-10 brands globally.

Sustainability of Supply: Accolade is reliant on external
suppliers. It sources around 97% of its wines from purchased grapes
(around 66%) and bulk wine (around 30%). The group has an evergreen
supply contract with The Riverland Grape Producers Co-operative
(CCW), the largest single supplier of Accolade's grapes that
accounts for around 48% of the company's total wine source. CCW is
Australia's largest grape grower co-operative with over 500
growers, and its supply to Accolade historically has benefited from
the relative stability in composition of the co-operative and its
market-based pricing structure.

The location of Accolade's major wineries in Australia's Riverland
region also benefits from the region's access to the Murray River
as a water source. This has helped the region deliver relatively
stable grape volumes over the past decade, despite being located
inland and subject to drought.

Berri Facility to Reduce Costs: Accolade has a favourable cost
position compared with peers, due primarily to the efficiencies it
derives from its Accolade Park bottling facility in Bristol, UK.
Fitch expects the opening of a similar bottling facility in Berri,
South Australia, in 2019, to deliver significant annual cost
savings. This, alongside the revenue growth from the growing share
of premium products in Accolade's wine portfolio, is likely to
bridge some of the margin gap with its peers.

Term Loan B Notched for Security: The 'BB-' rating on Amphora's
senior secured Term Loan B reflects the guarantee and security
provided under the terms. The loan is guaranteed by entities within
the wholly owned group, which cover at least 80% of group EBITDA,
including all companies contributing 5% or more of group EBITDA on
a standalone basis. The loan also benefits from security over group
assets, with a floating charge over the shares and all assets in
the UK and Australia. Its bespoke analysis indicates a recovery
given default of 90%, as reflecting the 'RR2' Recovery Rating
assigned to the loan.

DERIVATION SUMMARY

Amphora's rating reflects its high leverage, which constrains the
company's IDR to 'B'. Amphora's financial profile is weaker than
global peer, Russian spirits producer PJSC BELUGA GROUP
(B+/Stable). This reflects Fitch's expectation that Amphora's FFO
adjusted net leverage will remain above 5.0x until at least FY20,
compared with Beluga's of around 4.0x over the same period. Beluga
also has a leading market position in Russia and strong brand
portfolio in the Russian spirits market. These factors account for
the one-notch differential between the two companies' IDRs.
Beluga's rating also reflects the higher-than-average systemic
risks associated with the Russian business and jurisdictional
environment.

KEY ASSUMPTIONS

Fitch's Key Assumptions Within Its Rating Case for the Issuer

  - Group sales volumes to range between 26 million and 28
    million 9-litre cases a year.

  - Price per case to increase due to premiumisation of Accolade's
    portfolio.

  - Cost savings from Fine Wine Partners acquisition as well as
    economies of scale and increased efficiencies from the Berri
    facility.

  - Annual capex of AUD30 million-40 million in FY18 and FY19, and

    around AUD25 million in FY20 and FY21.

Recovery Assumptions:

  - Amphora would remain a going concern in restructuring and be
    reorganised rather than liquidated. Fitch has assumed a 10%
    administrative claim in the recovery analysis.

  - A 41% uplift to FY17 Fitch-calculated EBITDA, reflecting its
    expected cost savings from the Berri facility (around AUD17
million),
    while taking into account smaller volumes in the UK as the
business
    exits some low margin items to reflect the structure of the
business.
    This results in a post-restructuring EBITDA of around AUD100
million
    and at this level, Fitch would expect Amphora to generate
positive
    free cash flow.

  - A distressed multiple of 7.0x reflecting Amphora's market
position
    versus sector peers and recent multiples in the sector.

  - The AUD150 million revolving credit facility would be fully
drawn
    in a restructuring scenario.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

Developments That May, Individually or Collectively, Lead to
Positive Rating Action

Fitch does not anticipate taking positive rating action over the
next one to two years as Amphora deleverages towards its target
capital structure. However, the following developments may,
individually or collectively, lead to positive rating action:

  - FFO adjusted net leverage improving to below 5.0x for a
sustained
    period (Fitch's pro forma FY18 estimate: 6.9x).

  - FFO fixed-charge cover improving to above 2.5x for a sustained

    period (Fitch's pro forma FY18 estimate: 1.8x).

  - Delivery of the business plan, including the Berri plant being

    operational and anticipated cost savings materialising, success

    of brand rationalisation/premiumisation and implementation of
the
    China strategy.

Developments That May, Individually or Collectively, Lead to
Negative Rating Action

  - FFO adjusted leverage deteriorating to above 6.5x for a
sustained
    period.

  - EBITDA margin deteriorating to below 10.0% for a sustained
period
    (pro forma FY18 estimate: 9.0%).

  - Deterioration in the group's business profile, for example, if

    volume declines by 20% or more for a sustained period, the sale
of
    one or more of its main brands without a proven replacement, or
loss
    of a major customer in the concentrated UK or Australia liquor

    markets (such as Tesco in the UK or Woolworths and Coles in
Australia).

LIQUIDITY AND DEBT STRUCTURE

Refinancing Provided Headroom: The new capital structure, following
completion of the Carlyle acquisition of Accolade, consists of a
revolving credit facility of AUD150 million and a term loan of
GBP301 million (AUD550 million equivalent), both of which are
secured by group assets, with a floating charge over the shares and
all assets in the UK and Australia. Fitch expects the revolving
credit facility to remain undrawn, with the term loan to be fully
drawn and cash from the acquisition of AUD25 million to fund the
Berri bottling plant. Accordingly, Amphora has sufficient liquidity
headroom over the next two to three years to implement its
strategy, with little refinancing risk, as the debt maturities are
in six and seven years, respectively.


CASUAL DINING: Appoints James Spragg as New Chief Executive
-----------------------------------------------------------
Oliver Gill at The Telegraph reports that Casual Dining Group,
which owns a number of restaurant chains including Cafe Rouge,
Bella Italia and La Tasca, has appointed a company insider as its
new boss.

According to The Telegraph, James Spragg, operations head, will
take over as chief executive from the end of the month.  Mr. Spragg
faces a tough task at the helm of Casual Dining Group, which
plunged to a GBP242 million loss last year, The Telegraph states.

Current chief executive Steve Richards announced last month he was
stepping down to join holiday home operator Parkdean Resorts, The
Telegraph discloses.

Mr. Spragg's appointment completes a shake-up at the top of the
company by its new owner, The Telegraph notes.

As reported by the Troubled Company Reporter-Europe on Nov. 5,
2018, Bloomberg News, citing the Sunday Times, related that Cafe
Rouge owner Casual Dining Group called in restructuring adviser
Alvarez & Marsal Inc. to help strengthen its finances via
reductions in rent.  Mr. Richards said some of its sites are
loss-making because of high rents and rates, and the company is
taking action to ensure growth, Bloomberg relayed, citing the
Sunday Times.  According to Bloomberg, the article said the
London-based company arranged a debt-for-equity swap with lenders
KKR & Co. and Pemberton Asset Management SA earlier in 2018 and
received a GBP30 million (US$39 million) injection.  The Sunday
Times said Casual Dining Group is hoping to avoid another company
voluntary arrangement, a procedure designed for businesses with
insolvency or debt problems, which it undertook in 2014, Bloomberg
relates.


CHESTER A PLC: Moody's Assigns Ba3 Rating on GBP40MM Class E Notes
------------------------------------------------------------------
Moody's Investors Service has assigned definitive credit ratings to
the following Notes issued by Chester A PLC:

  GBP1,482,787,000 Class A Mortgage Backed Floating
  Rate Notes due March 2046, Definitive Rating Assigned
  Aaa (sf)

  GBP140,263,000 Class B Mortgage Backed Floating Rate Notes
  due March 2046, Definitive Rating Assigned Aa3 (sf)

  GBP130,244,000 Class C Mortgage Backed Floating Rate Notes
  due March 2046, Definitive Rating Assigned A1 (sf)

  GBP80,150,000 Class D Mortgage Backed Floating Rate Notes due
  March 2046, Definitive Rating Assigned Baa3 (sf)

  GBP40,075,000 Class E Mortgage Backed Floating Rate Notes due
  March 2046, Definitive Rating Assigned Ba3 (sf)

The GBP 130,245,000 Class Z Mortgage Backed Notes due March 2046,
the Class S1 Certificate due March 2046, the Class S2 Certificate
due March 2046, the Class Y Certificates due March 2046 and The GBP
105,462,000 VRR Loan Note due March 2046 have not been rated by
Moody's.

The Notes are backed by a pool of UK Prime residential mortgage
loans previously held by NRAM Limited (A2). The pool was acquired
by Citibank N.A., London Branch (Aa3/P-1; Aa3(cr)) from NRAM
Limited. The securitised portfolio consists of 31,082 mortgage
loans with a current balance of GBP 2,109 million. The VRR Loan
Note is a risk retention Note which receives 5% of all available
receipts, while the remaining Notes and certificates receive 95% of
the available receipts.

RATINGS RATIONALE

The ratings of the Notes are based on an analysis of the
characteristics of the underlying mortgage pool, sector wide and
originator specific performance data, protection provided by credit
enhancement, the roles of external counterparties and the
structural features of the transaction.

Moody's determined the MILAN Credit Enhancement of 18.5% and the
portfolio expected loss of 4.0% as input parameters for Moody's
cash flow model, which is based on a probabilistic lognormal
distribution.

Portfolio expected loss of 4.0%: This is higher than the UK Prime
sector average of 1% and is based on Moody's assessment of the
lifetime loss expectation for the pool taking into account: (i) the
collateral performance of NRAM Limited originated loans to date, as
provided by NRAM Limited; (ii) 3.2% of loans that were previously
restructured and 19.7% of loans in arrears in the portfolio; (iii)
the current macroeconomic environment in the UK and the potential
impact of future interest rate rises on the performance of the
mortgage loans; and (iv) benchmarking with comparable transactions
in the UK market.

MILAN CE of 18.5%: This is higher than the UK Prime sector average
of 9.5% and follows Moody's assessment of the loan-by-loan
information taking into account the following key drivers: (i) the
weighted average current loan-to-value of 88.51%, which is higher
than the average seen in the sector; (ii) 3.2% of loans that were
previously restructured and 19.7% of loans in arrears in the
portfolio; and (iii) the historical performance of the loans with
52.7% of the loans in the pool having been current or at worst less
than 1 payment in arrears over the last five years.

Bradford & Bingley plc (NR) will be the contractual interim
servicer sub delegating all its servicing to Computershare Mortgage
Services Limited (NR). Servicing is expected to be transferred to
Topaz Finance Limited ((NR); subsidiary of Computershare Mortgage
Services Limited) -- the long-term servicer -- within 6 months from
closing.

Citibank N.A., London Branch is appointed as cash manager, while
CSC Capital Markets UK Limited (NR) is appointed as back-up
servicer facilitator. To help ensure continuity of payments the
deal contains estimation language whereby the cash flows will be
estimated from the three most recent servicer reports should the
servicer report not be available.

As there are no swaps in the transaction, Moody's has modelled the
spread taking into account the minimum margin covenant of Libor +
3.4%. Due to uncertainty on enforceability of this covenant,
Moody's has taken the view not to give full credit to this
covenant. Instead, Moody's has stressed the interest rate of the
pool by assuming that loans revert to an SVR yield equal to Libor +
1.8%.

Principal Methodology

The principal methodology used in these ratings was "Moody's
Approach to Rating RMBS Using the MILAN Framework" published in
March 2019.

The analysis undertaken by Moody's at the initial assignment of
ratings for RMBS securities may focus on aspects that become less
relevant or typically remain unchanged during the surveillance
stage.

Factors that would lead to an upgrade or downgrade of the ratings:

Factors that may cause an upgrade of the ratings of the Notes
include: significantly better than expected performance of the pool
together with an increase in credit enhancement of Notes; for Class
B, due to a lack of available liquidity for this class the above
factors are unlikely to cause an upgrade until at least Class A is
fully repaid.

Factors that would lead to a downgrade of the ratings include:
economic conditions being worse than forecast resulting in
worse-than-expected performance of the underlying collateral,
deterioration in the credit quality of the counterparties and
unforeseen legal or regulatory changes.


EG GROUP: Fitch Rates $1.52-BB Planned Sr. Secured Notes 'B+(EXP)'
------------------------------------------------------------------
Fitch Ratings has assigned EG Group Limited's up to USD1.52 billion
equivalent EUR and USD planned senior secured notes issue an
expected rating of 'B+(EXP)' with a Recovery Rating of 'RR3' (57%).
The new senior secured notes are structured as an add-on to EG's
existing senior secured debt and will rank pari passu with all
existing senior secured debt within the group.

The new bonds will firstly partly re-finance EG's EUR839 million
bridge debt used to fund the acquisition of 537 Woolworths
Australia petrol stations and convenience stores across Australia.
This acquisition increases EG's geographical diversification, while
making the group the largest provider of fuel by volume on the
Australian continent. Secondly the bond issue finances two small
acquisitions in the US for a total of USD400 million (EUR354
million). Further funds also come from the disposal of the fuel
cards business for EUR235 million, subject to competition clearance
in 2Q19.

Fitch forecasts the transactions will be broadly neutral to
leverage, particularly if EG is successful in achieving its
targeted cost synergies, leaving EG's Issuer Default Rating and
existing instrument ratings materially unchanged. Fitch expects to
convert the expected rating to final rating upon the receipt of
final documentation being in line with that already received.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

Leading Global PFS Operator: EG's IDR of 'B' reflects the group's
position in western Europe and the US as a leading petrol fuel
station and convenience retail/food-to-go operator, following the
acquisition of Esso petrol stations in Germany and Italy and the
Kroger Co. and Minit Mart US acquisitions in 2018 These
acquisitions together with the purchase of WA's 537 PFS in
Australia in 2019 will push fuel sales volumes to around 19 billion
litres per year and Fitch expects EG should benefit from a better
negotiating position on fuel contracts with oil majors in 2019 and
beyond.

Changing, Sustainable Business Model: EG has transformed itself
from a small entrepreneurial group into a major global fuel and
retail operator in less than three years, with over 5,000 PFS. The
group was particularly acquisitive in 2018 as the PFS sector
consolidated. Although the group engaged in significant acquisition
activity in 2018, Fitch understands from management that the group
intends to consolidate its activities in 2019, while developing its
convenience and FTG formats in Europe, the US and Australia where
there is greatest potential. EG will also focus on moderately
de-leveraging its balance sheet in 2019 towards a target net
debt/EBITDA of around 4.0x to 4.5x by end-2020/beginning 2021.

Increased Scale, Diversification Benefits: Fitch sees the
geographical diversification and increase in scale as critical,
given EG's flat-to-declining fuel volumes, broadly fixed fuel
margins and growing alternative fuel usage. Fitch believes EG will
follow a similar convenience/FTG-driven strategy in Australia.

Fitch expects the WA acquisition to add around AUD5 billion (EUR3.1
billion) of revenue to EG in the coming year. EG is confident it
can integrate the new sites into its global organisation and
achieve synergies of around AUD66 million, which together with the
revised fuel supply contracts, could increase Australian EBITDA to
over AUD300 million by 2022-2023. The two small US acquisition
should also be fully integrated during 2019.

Group EBITDA post-WA completion should be around a Fitch-estimated
EUR1.07 billion per year with a strong free pro-forma cash flow of
between 1% and 1.5% of sales. This should support the de-leveraging
strategy outlined for 2019 and 2020 which, in turn, will help build
up some leverage headroom under the current rating, hence
supporting its Stable Outlook.

Good Record Integrating Acquisitions: The enlarged scale and market
reach have required changes and upgrades to management's
organisation and control functions across the wider group. However,
Fitch sees EG's business model as sustainable and management has a
history of growing the business, integrating acquisitions swiftly
and efficiently, identifying significant margin improvements and
cost-saving opportunities from the integration of its targets.

Growing Convenience, FTG Segments: EG's strategy is to develop the
convenience retail and FTG offer on its sites to capture
above-average growth in the sector as "time-short" consumers
increasingly want to shop more frequently and more easily or closer
to home or the office. It also enables the group to offset
stagnation in fuel volumes and gross profits from fuel sales.

High, but Sustainable, Leverage: Fitch estimates that the entirely
debt-funded WA and small US acquisitions should be neutral to
leverage (pro-forma FFO lease adjusted gross leverage at around
7.0x and fixed charge cover between 2.1x and 2.5x). With nearly
EUR120 million of cost savings achieved in 2018 and further cost
savings identified at WA, the group now has improved headroom for
the ratings, should the acquisition of WA incur additional costs
and reduce cash flows for de-leveraging.

Positive FCF: Fitch expects de-leveraging to be moderate in the
next three years, and FCF should remain positive, despite
convenience/FTG development capex and high interest payments
including new currency hedging costs. Fitch expects the group to
continue generating positive FCF from 2019 (around 1.0%-1.5% of
sales), but EG is still slightly vulnerable to adverse events such
as a downturn in consumer spending in Europe and the US.

Capex Fuels Diversification and Margins: Fitch projects that once
the WA acquisition is complete, EG's FCF is likely to be slightly
constrained by maintenance and growth capex of on average EUR250
million-EUR300 million a year for the enlarged group. Capex will
fund the opening of new sites, the conversion of the most promising
stations from company-owned and dealer-operated to company-owned
and -operated and support the roll-out of EG's convenience
retail/FTG strategy, as well as increase the group's weighted
average operating margins. Fitch expects that the US and WA
acquisitions will lead to a material increase in development capex
but with an accretive impact on the group's profit margins

DERIVATION SUMMARY

EG's 'B' IDR reflects its leading market position as an independent
petrol station operator in Europe and the US, positive FCF and
diversification towards more profitable non-fuel retailing and FTG
segments. However, with the two US and Australian acquisitions
funded entirely by debt, Fitch expects pro-forma FFO adjusted gross
leverage to remain around 7.0x by end-2019, which is high for the
rating. The large Kroger convenience store acquisition should also
be accretive on operating margins, although there is some moderate
execution risk with the Australian acquisition.

The majority of EG's business is broadly comparable with that of
other peers that Fitch covers in its food/non-food retail rating
and credit opinions portfolios, although the COCO operating model
should provide more flexibility and profitability for EG. With
around 300 highway sites, EG can also be compared with motorway
services group Moto Ventures Limited (B/Stable) and to a lesser
extent with emerging markets oil products vertically integrated
storage/distributors/PFS operators such as Puma Energy Holdings Pte
Limited (BB/Negative) and Vivo Energy Plc (BB+/Stable). Moto has
slightly lower leverage than EG and benefits from an
infrastructure-like business profile. It also operates in a
regulated market with high barriers to entry that Fitch believes
are more defensive than that of EG. In contrast, EG is more
geographically diversified, with exposure to both the US and
Australian markets and a strong market share in seven western
European countries, against only one in Moto's case.

KEY ASSUMPTIONS

Fitch's Key Assumptions within its Rating Case for the Issuer
include:

European business assumptions:

  - Slight decline in fuel volumes, with stable gross margins;

  - Convenience retail sales to grow 2%-3% a year, including
    new sites roll-out with stable gross margins of 32%-36%,
    depending on the country;

  - Like-for-like FTG sales to increase 1% on top of new sites
    roll-out with stable gross margins above 60%;

  - Stable overall EBITDA margin around 4%-5% of sales based on
    current fuel prices.

Kroger carve-out assumptions:

  - USD4 billion revenue;

  - Fully debt-funded;

  - Neutral working capital.

WA assumptions:

  - AUD5 billion revenue; with fuel margins of EUR8.8cpl;
    acquisition entirely debt- funded.

Fitch's assumptions also include:

  - US acquisitions to date 2019: Consideration of USD400
    million.

  - EUR250 million additional cash spent on acquisitions a
    year from 2019 to 2021 at 10x EBITDA multiple fully funded
    by debt;

  - EUR70 million a year maintenance capex;

  - Growth capex around EUR150 million a year to fund new site
    openings, COCO conversions and convenience retail and FTG
    roll-out in Europe and the US;

  - No dividends; and

  - 1.13EUR/GBP, 1.23EUR/USD exchange rates.

KEY RECOVERY ASSUMPTIONS

According to its bespoke recovery analysis, higher recoveries would
be realised using a going-concern approach, despite EG's reasonable
asset backing. Fitch expects a better recovery by preserving the
business model, as opposed to liquidating its balance sheet, as
this reflects EG's structurally cash-generative business.

In a liquidation scenario, the highway sites would constitute the
majority of asset value but would not be sufficient against the
recovered value of a going-concern scenario. The industry is
concentrated and undergoing further consolidation in most of EG's
geographies (Italy, Germany, UK and France) as a result of the
decline in fuel volumes of around 1% a year.

Fitch has applied a discount of 25% to the LTM 2018 Fitch-estimated
EBITDA (adjusted for the Esso, Dutch and US and Australia
acquisitions) to derive a post-restructuring EBITDA of around
EUR819 million. Fitch estimates that such discount would lead to
the group becoming FCF neutral, while paying its cash interest,
distressed corporate tax and capex.

In a distressed scenario, Fitch believes that a 5.5x multiple
reflects a conservative view of the weighted average value of EG's
portfolio. By comparison, Moto's 7.5x distressed multiple reflects
the regulated nature of the market, the high quality of the
company's highway sites and infrastructure-like cash-flow
generation profile.

As per its criteria, Fitch assumes EG's revolving credit facilities
and letter of credit facility to be fully drawn and takes 10% off
the enterprise value to account for administrative claims.

These assumptions result in recovery expectations of 57%,
consistent with 'RR3', and a rating of 'B+' for senior secured
creditors, including the planned debt to part refinance EG's
Australian acquisition bridge debt and latest M&A. However, Fitch
continues to expect no meaningful recoveries for the group's
second-lien debt resulting in 0% recoveries and a rating of
'CCC+'/'RR6'.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

Future Developments That May, Individually or Collectively, Lead to
Positive Rating Action

  - Evidence of success in the roll-out strategy of convenience
    retail and FTG sites in Germany and Italy, leading to
    EBITDA margin rising sustainably above 5%;

  - FFO fixed-charge cover above 2.5x on a sustained basis;

  - Sustainable EBITDA growth leading to FCF generation above 3%
    of sales; and

  - FFO lease-adjusted gross leverage below 5.5x through the
    cycle, due to additional profits from new convenience
    retail/FTG outlets and/or rising fuel operating profits.

Future Developments That May, Individually or Collectively, Lead to
Negative Rating Action

  - FFO lease-adjusted gross leverage sustainably above 7.5x;

  - FFO fixed-charge cover below 2x on a sustained basis; and

  - Significant decline in fuel volumes and convenience retail
    sales and/or margins leading to the EBITDA margin falling
    below 3% based on current fuel prices.


EG GROUP: S&P Assigns B Rating to New Sr. Secured Notes 'B'
-----------------------------------------------------------
S&P Global Ratings affirmed its 'B' long-term issuer credit rating
on U.K. petrol station operator EG Group Ltd., and assigned its 'B'
issue rating to the proposed senior secured notes, issued by EG
Global Finance plc.

The affirmation follows EG Group's proposed refinancing of a
dual-currency bridge facility, used to acquire 537 Woolworths sites
in Australia, with EUR1,355 million equivalent of senior secured
notes. The group also announced two further acquisitions (Fastrac
and Certified Oil) both in the U.S., for a total enterprise value
of $420 million for 125 sites. S&P said, "While we recognize that
these acquisitions continue to enhance EG's presence in the U.S.
and will likely provide some synergies, we view them as credit
negative overall, given they will be entirely debt funded. We
believe the resulting increase in leverage will reduce the headroom
under our current 'B' rating on EG."

S&P said, "We now expect S&P Global Ratings'-adjusted debt to
EBITDA of around 7.5x by the end of 2019, up from around 7.0x
previously. Our adjusted debt and ratio calculations include nearly
EUR800 million of externally held, but structurally subordinated
and payment-in-kind preferred shares, issued above the restricted
group and maturing after the remaining financial debt. These add
around 0.7x to our adjusted leverage. We note the EUR235 million
contracted disposal of the non-core fuel card business, which will
support our liquidity assessment. However, we do not expect this to
be devoted to debt repayment given further possible bolt-on
acquisitions.

"We expect EG to make fewer and smaller debt-funded acquisitions
over the coming years compared with the acquisitive past two years.
These have been characterized by the acquisitions of Exxon Mobile
sites in Germany and Italy in 2018, the Kroeger C-stores in the
U.S. 2018, and the Woolworth business in Australia in early 2019.
We also believe that any new acquisition-related transaction and
integration costs will be balanced by the now-higher operating
earnings base, enabling the group to better absorb high
extraordinary costs."

The stable outlook reflects EG's prospects for rapid deleveraging
following the integration of its new businesses in Australia, the
U.S., Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands, as well as a broadly
stable fuel demand. S&P expects the group will rapidly deleverage
toward 7x on the back of earnings growth in 2019-2020, while also
generating substantial FOCF thanks to a stable operating
environment and decreasing acquisition activity, at least relative
to the now enlarged group.

S&P said, "We could take a negative rating action within the next
12 months if the group experiences setbacks in the integration of
its acquisitions, fails to realize expected synergies, or if
underlying operating performance weakens. If such a scenario
manifests, EG's adjusted debt to EBITDA could remain above 8x in
2019, with reported FOCF remaining negative. Downward pressure
could also build if further large debt-funded opportunistic
acquisitions also weaken the group's credit profile to a similar
extent.

"Due to very high debt levels and the fact that our base case
already envisions progressive deleveraging, we do not see any
rating upside over the next 12 months. However, we could take a
positive rating action if adjusted debt to EBITDA remains below 6x
on a sustainable basis on the back of the ongoing successful
integration of its recent acquisitions, improved earnings and cash
flows, and a balanced financial policy in relation to capital
expenditure (capex), acquisitions, and shareholder returns."


INTERNATIONAL PERSONAL: Moody's Assigns Ba3 CFR, Outlook Stable
---------------------------------------------------------------
Moody's Investors Service assigned a first-time Ba3 Corporate
Family Rating to International Personal Finance plc, a UK-based
non-prime installment lender with operations in 11 countries
globally. The rating agency also assigned local- and foreign
currency provisional (P)Ba3 ratings to IPF's EUR1,000,000,000 Euro
Medium Term Note Programme. The outlook on the issuer is stable.

RATINGS RATIONALE

The assigned (P)Ba3 senior unsecured MTN programme rating reflects
(1) IPF's ba3 standalone assessment, resulting in the assignment of
a Ba3 CFR; and (2) Moody's Loss Given Default (LGD) for
Speculative-Grade Companies analysis that takes into account IPF's
liability structure, which leads to the alignment of the senior
unsecured MTN programme rating with the CFR.

The Ba3 CFR reflects (1) IPF's good loss-absorption capacity
through high profitability; (2) strong capital position; and (3)
rapid cash flow generation through its reverse maturity
transformation. These strengths are balanced against (1) weak asset
quality; (2) potential profitability constraints stemming from
adverse regulatory changes; and (3) medium-term debt maturity
concentration.

IPF's strong profitability provides good loss absorption capacity,
with 2016-2018 average underlying return on assets of 5.3%. The
company has demonstrated strong through-the-cycle performance,
continuing to report annual profits through the last financial
crisis as well as maintaining its cost of risk metrics within its
targeted range. Moody's expects IPF's profit to remain strong, but
factors in expected negative earnings impact from potential adverse
regulatory changes, such as the tightening of the Polish total cost
of credit cap.

IPF's capital position is strong, reflected by its 28.2% tangible
common equity to tangible assets ratio at the end of 2018. The
company's policy of funding each loan with 40% equity has been a
key capital driver during the past decade, supporting Moody's
assessment that capital will act as a loss absorption buffer in a
stress scenario.

Reverse maturity transformation and short asset maturities support
IPF's credit profile and makes it possible for the company to
rapidly collect cash and deleverage if high yield markets are
closed or it chooses to exit a market due to adverse regulatory
change. At the end of 2018, IPF had an average lending maturity of
around 11 months and average committed funding maturity at 2.1
years.

Moody's views asset quality as a key ratings challenge for IPF.
According to Moody's calculations, IPF had a 15.2% net charge off
ratio during 2018 and reported 32.5% problem loans at the end of
the year. The weak asset quality reflects that IPF provides
short-term unsecured loans to customers with weak credit profiles.

IPF's debt maturity profile shows concentration in 2020 and 2021,
giving rise to some medium-term refinancing risk. The company has
GBP570 million outstanding bonds at the end of 2018, 25% of which
are maturing in 2020 and further 65% in 2021.

The Ba3 CFR also factors in Moody's view of IPF's operating
environment, reflected through a B2 Operating Environment Score,
and a positive business profile adjustment to reflect that IPF has
a strong and established franchise with operations across 11
markets on three continents.

RATIONALE FOR THE STABLE OUTLOOK

The stable outlook reflects Moody's expectation that IPF will
continue to perform in line with that of its Ba3 CFR over the next
12-18 months despite exposure to moderate profitability pressure
stemming from stricter regulation aimed at limiting interest rates
consumer lenders can charge.

FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE/DOWNGRADE

IPF's CFR could be upgraded in the event that (1) risks related to
near-term adverse regulatory changes dissipates, improving
profitability expectations; (2) capital improves, with TCE/tangible
assets increasing and remaining above 31%; and/or (3) the debt
maturity concentration is reduced.

Conversely, IPF's CFR could be downgraded in the event that (1) its
capital position deteriorates, with TCE/tangible assets falling
well below 26% while the dispute with Polish tax authorities
remains unresolved; and/or (2) its cash flow and liquidity position
weakens, for example if the company is unable to refinance its
maturing debt before the refinancing risk becomes
disproportionately large.

The positioning of the CFR could be subject to reassessment if IPF
is subject to material adverse regulatory changes that impacts its
business viability in some of its markets.

The senior unsecured MTN programme rating may also be upgraded or
downgraded if IPF were to change its liability structure and
increase the proportion of subordinated or senior-ranked
liabilities.

INTERSERVE PLC: Finance Chief Steps Down After Administration
-------------------------------------------------------------
Jack Torrance at The Telegraph reports that Interserve plc's
finance chief is standing down just weeks after the struggling
government contractor was handed over to its lenders in a
contentious rescue deal.

According to The Telegraph, Mark Whiteling, who joined the company
just 18 months ago to help lead a turnaround effort, is leaving to
pursue a portfolio career.

His departure adds another item to the in-tray of Interserve's
chief executive Debbie White, who is working to return the business
to profit after its finances were ruined by a series of loss-making
contracts, The Telegraph discloses.

Interserve delivers a host of vital public services from cleaning
schools to building railway stations and maintaining military
bases.

As reported by the Troubled Company Reporter-Europe on Mar 18,
2019, The Telegraph related that Interserve collapsed into
administration, handing its assets over to its lenders as part of a
pre-pack administration process that wipes out its shareholders but
saves the business and 68,000 jobs worldwide.  Ernst & Young was
appointed as administrators following a failed vote in which
shareholders rejected a rescue package put together by Interserve's
management team, The Telegraph stated.


LINKS OF LONDON: Dismisses CVA, Sale Rumors
-------------------------------------------
Stacey Hailes at Professional Jeweller reports that sources at
Links of London have categorically denied rumors that the business
is preparing for a CVA or that parent company the FF Group is
looking to sell the British jewellery chain.

Rreports emerged last month that the jewellery brand could be the
next British retailer to consider a company voluntary arrangement
(CVA) in order to reduce rents, close stores and shore up its
finances, with the Daily Telegraph reporting on April 23 that the
Folli Follie Group could sell Links of London in order to stave off
insolvency after an accounting scandal involving its business in
Asia, Professional Jeweller discloses.

The situation has heaped pressure on Follie Follie, but sources
told Professional Jeweller on April 24 that Links of London has
received no indication of the FF Group preparing for a sale of the
business, and that it is not planning a CVA, Professional Jeweller
relates.

Reports that Deloitte has been appointed as a financial advisor to
the FF Group are correct, but sources insists that as one of the
group's companies, Links of London is only working with the
auditing specialist within that capacity, Professional Jeweller
notes.

Links of London is a British brand owned by Greek jewellery company
Folli Follie, with headquarters in London, England.

According to Professional Jeweller, a spokesperson for Links of
London told Professional Jeweller: "Links of London has been
implementing an operational turnaround of its business, and
continues to be supported by the Folli Follie Group.  The
turnaround plan has been in effect since September 2018 and is part
of the execution of a five-year strategy driven by global CEO,
Annia Spiliopoulos, and the Links of London management team.

"The strategy is to evolve Links of London into a luxury lifestyle
brand with new collections and collaborations. At the company's
heart is creating jewellery and accessories that celebrate British
design and its heritage of craftsmanship in silversmithing and
goldsmithing.  Product ranges for a new generation of jewellery
consumers will be underpinned by a focus on marketing,
storytelling, customer experience and e-commerce."


LONDON CAPITAL: Angry Bondholders Criticize FCA, Accountants
------------------------------------------------------------
James Booth at City A.M. reports that angry bondholders of
collapsed lender London Capital & Finance railed against the
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and accountants
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Ernst & Young (EY) on April 24 at
a packed meeting in City Temple church.

Furious investors raged against the FCA, blaming it for failing to
intervene in the regulated firm sooner, City A.M. relates.

LCF went into administration in January owing GBP236 million to
more than 11,000 investors, City A.M. recounts.  Its collapse is
being investigated by the FCA and the Serious Fraud Office, which
has made four arrests, City A.M. discloses.

According to City A.M., investors also criticized EY, which was
auditing LCF's accounts at the time of its collapse, and PwC, which
audited its accounts for the 2015-2016 financial year.

Head administrator Finbarr O'Connell --
finbarr.oconnell@smithandwilliamson.com -- of Smith & Williamson
said he had talked to bondholders who said they "relied on PwC and
EY being auditors of the company", City A.M. notes.

"It is clear to us that as GBP10 million came in the front door it
was being given out at the back door," which Mr. Connell, as cited
by City A.M., said "clearly raises questions" about how its
accounts were given the green light by auditors.

Mishcon de Reya partner Mike Stubbs -- advising alongside Smith &
Williamson -- said the investigation had recovered a "treasure
trove of information" in deleted files recovered from LCF's
systems, significant amounts which he said had been deleted at the
time of the FCA's intervention in December and shortly before the
company went into administration in January, City A.M. relays.


WILLIAM HILL: S&P Rates New GBP350MM Sr. Unsecured Notes 'BB'
-------------------------------------------------------------
S&P Global Ratings assigned its 'BB' issue rating to the proposed
GBP350 million senior unsecured notes to be issued by U.K.-based
gaming operator William Hill PLC (William Hill; BB/Stable/--)
following the company's announced refinancing transaction. The new
notes will have a '3' recovery rating (50%-70% recovery prospects,
rounded estimate: 65%) in line with the existing notes.

Yesterday, William Hill announced a tender offer for its GBP375
million guaranteed notes due 2020 at 103%. The tender offer will
run until April 29. As part of this transaction, William Hill
proposes to use the funds raised to repay the 2020 notes in order
to manage its upcoming debt redemption and extend its debt maturity
profile.

S&P said, "We do not expect the new issuance to have a significant
impact on William Hill's credit profile. The stable outlook
reflects our view that William Hill will be able to maintain its
leverage at 3x-4x, even after the expected decline in EBITDA
triggered by the changes in U.K. regulation. We expect the decline
in EBITDA to be partially mitigated by the continuous increase in
revenues from the online segment and from revenues coming from the
company's growing activity in the U.S."




                           *********


S U B S C R I P T I O N   I N F O R M A T I O N

Troubled Company Reporter-Europe is a daily newsletter co-
published by Bankruptcy Creditors' Service, Inc., Fairless Hills,
Pennsylvania, USA, and Beard Group, Inc., Washington, D.C., USA.
Marites O. Claro, Rousel Elaine T. Fernandez, Joy A. Agravante,
Julie Anne L. Toledo, Ivy B. Magdadaro, and Peter A. Chapman,
Editors.

Copyright 2019.  All rights reserved.  ISSN 1529-2754.

This material is copyrighted and any commercial use, resale or
publication in any form (including e-mail forwarding, electronic
re-mailing and photocopying) is strictly prohibited without prior
written permission of the publishers.

Information contained herein is obtained from sources believed to
be reliable, but is not guaranteed.

The TCR Europe subscription rate is US$775 per half-year,
delivered via e-mail.  Additional e-mail subscriptions for
members of the same firm for the term of the initial subscription
or balance thereof are US$25 each.  For subscription information,
contact Peter Chapman at 215-945-7000.


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