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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

          Thursday, September 16, 2021, Vol. 22, No. 180

                           Headlines



B E L G I U M

IDEAL STANDARD: S&P Assigns 'B-' LongTerm ICR, Outlook Stable


G R E E C E

ALPHA BANK: Moody's Rates New EUR500MM Sr. Preferred Debt 'Caa1'


I R E L A N D

VOYA EURO CLO V: Fitch Assigns Final B- Rating on Class F Debt
VOYA EURO CLO V: S&P Assigns B- Rating on EUR10.5MM Class F Notes


I T A L Y

ALITALIA SPA: Italy Accelerates Sale of Assets to Successor
MAGGESE SRL: Moody's Cuts Rating on EUR170MM Class A Notes to Ba3
VERDE BIDCO: Moody's Assigns 'B2' CFR & Rates EUR450MM Notes 'B2'
VERDE BIDCO: S&P Assigns Prelim. 'B' LongTerm Issuer Credit Rating


N E T H E R L A N D S

STEINHOFF: New Intervention Applications May Delay Liquidation


R U S S I A

LSR GROUP: Fitch Affirms 'B+' LongTerm IDR, Outlook Stable
PIK-SPECIALIZED PJSC: Fitch Affirms 'BB-' LT IDR, Outlook Stable


S P A I N

CIRSA ENTERPRISES: Moody's Affirms B3 CFR & Alters Outlook to Pos.
CIRSA ENTERPRISES: S&P Alters Outlook to Stable & Affirms 'B-' ICR


U N I T E D   K I N G D O M

CANTERBURY FINANCE 1: Moody's Hikes Class X Notes Rating to Caa1
FERGUSON MARINE: Loses Bid to Build New CalMac Ferries
GLENBURN HOTEL: Administrator Puts Property Up for Sale
LONDON CAPITAL: FCA Defends Hiring of Transformation Director
PAYSAFE LTD: S&P Affirms 'B+' LongTerm ICR, Outlook Stable

TULLOW OIL: Finance Director Steps Down Following Refinancing

                           - - - - -


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B E L G I U M
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IDEAL STANDARD: S&P Assigns 'B-' LongTerm ICR, Outlook Stable
-------------------------------------------------------------
S&P Global Ratings assigned its 'B-' long-term issuer credit and
issue ratings to Belgium-headquartered bathware and fittings
manufacturer Ideal Standard International S.A. and the EUR325
million senior secured notes. The EUR15 million super senior RCF is
not rated at Ideal Standard's request.

The stable outlook indicates S&P's view that Ideal Standard will
report continued EBITDA growth, underpinned by modest organic
expansion and transformation programs, enabling gradual
deleveraging.

The ratings reflect Ideal Standard's moderate size, with limited
growth prospects.The company has a narrow focus on bathware and
fittings-related products and limited geographical diversification.
Ideal Standard has high exposure to Europe, with the U.K.
contributing 23% of it 2020 revenue, followed by Italy (12%),
France (12%), and Germany (18%). As a result, the company is
moderately sized compared with rated peers Geberit (A+/Stable/--),
CPG International LLC (B+/Positive/--), and CP Atlas Buyer
(B-/Stable/--). Although Ideal Standard has relatively good
positions as the No. 1 or 2 ceramics or ceramics and fittings
producer in key end markets such as the U.K., Italy, and
Egypt--which represented less than 50% of revenue in 2020--bathware
and fittings markets are very fragmented. In 2020, the top-five
players contributed less than 50% of total market share by volume,
both in Europe as well as in the Middle East and North Africa
(MENA); this points to intense market competition. That said, the
company has a good track record of relatively stable and increasing
gross margins, backed by a successful pricing strategy and the
passing-through to customers of higher costs related to inflation
and increases in raw material prices. Nevertheless, the bathware
and fittings markets are mature and mostly rely on housing repair,
maintenance, and improvements. Although this market, which
contributes 80% of Ideal Standard's revenue, is more stable than
the new-build market, growth potential is limited, particularly in
Europe. The European ceramics and fittings markets are projected to
expand 2% in volume terms from 2020-2024, with MENA markets
projected to expand about 6%.

Ideal Standard has taken several concrete steps to improve
profitability and reduce leverage. Historically, the company's
profitability was below average in a comparison of rated peers
within the building materials sector. On average, Ideal Standard's
EBITDA margin, as adjusted by S&P Global Ratings, was 3%-8% in
2018-2020. This was mainly due to higher manufacturing costs, an
inefficient product mix, and sizable restructuring expenses. Since
2017, management has focused on key transformation initiatives to
drive an operational turnaround. Cost-savings bolstered EBITDA by
about EUR75 million over 2018-2020. These programs include
migrating the manufacturing footprint to low-cost countries, supply
chain and procurement optimization, and other productivity
enhancements. Management will continue its transformation programs
and deliver further savings. S&P said, "It has realized a
significant portion of the expected savings under the plan, and we
anticipate it is on track to hit its target. This should improve
the S&P Global Ratings-adjusted EBITDA margin to 10%-11% in
2021-2022, from 8% in 2020. We therefore anticipate leverage will
reduce gradually to slightly below 6.5x by 2022 from about 7.0x
expected at transaction close."

Ideal Standard's material debt underpins our highly leveraged
financial risk assessment. The company recently issued a EUR15
million super senior RCF and EUR325 million of senior secured notes
in July 2021. S&P said, "We expect about EUR243 million of proceeds
to redeem or repay shareholder indebtedness, with the remainder to
refinance the EUR65 million syndicated loan issued in 2020. At
year-end 2020, the capital structure consisted of preferred equity
certificates (PECs) series 2-6 totaling EUR1.76 billion, an
interest-bearing loan from the parent of EUR1.04 billion, a second
interest-bearing loan from the parent (subordinated) of EUR172
million, a syndicated loan of EUR65 million, Bulgarian credit
linked to assets and leasebacks of EUR10 million, a factoring
facility of EUR15 million, and a MENA facility of EUR13 million. We
consider the PECs series 2-6 and the two shareholder loans mostly
held by entities managed by Anchorage Capital and CVC Credit
Partners as qualifying for equity treatment under our methodology,
in light of the expected coupon rate, the equity-stapling clause,
no required fixed cash interest payment, and highly subordinated
and default-free features. In contrast, the recourse and
nonrecourse factoring and MENA facilities should remain in the
capital structure after the issuance. Taking this all into
consideration, we forecast S&P Global Ratings-adjusted debt will be
about EUR500 million, leading us to expect debt to EBITDA of about
7.0x in 2021. Our debt adjustments include about EUR95 million in
pension liabilities, about EUR46 million in future operating lease
obligations, and a minimal asset-retirement obligation debt
adjustment. We also factor in the company's private-equity
ownership and potentially aggressive financial strategy. Therefore,
we do not net cash balances from our adjusted debt calculation. We
expect the company to generate negative reported free operating
cash flow (FOCF), given its high capital expenditure (capex) and
working capital requirements in 2021. A portion of 2021 capex
relates to the company's transformation programs, and is to decline
once the programs are completed. Whereas the higher working capital
is linked to the rebound in operating activities. We forecast
negative adjusted FOCF of EUR15 million-EUR20 million in 2021,
before improving to positive EUR5 million-EUR10 million due to
lower capex and working capital requirements."

S&P said, "The stable outlook signifies our view that Ideal
Standard will report continued EBITDA growth, underpinned by modest
organic growth and transformation programs, leading to gradual
deleveraging.

"We could lower the ratings on Ideal Standard over the next 12
months if the pace of deleveraging is slower than expected and real
cash flow (after restructuring charges) is compromised. This
scenario could materialize in the case of a severe downturn such
that demand for the company's products drastically declines, or due
to higher-than-expected input prices or labor cost inflation that
cannot be passed on to customers, in addition to failure to achieve
anticipated cost savings. We could also lower the ratings if the
company pursues an aggressive financial policy--for instance, using
debt to fund additional distributions or acquisitions--causing
unsustainable leverage."

S&P could raise its rating on Ideal Standard over the next 12
months if sustained organic growth and transformation programs
result in higher-than-expected earnings, such that adjusted
leverage improves sustainably to about 6.0x and the company
generates recurring positive FOCF. An upgrade would also hinge on
an expanded EBITDA margin to the high end of the 9%-18% range,
which is an average profitability assessment for building materials
companies.





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G R E E C E
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ALPHA BANK: Moody's Rates New EUR500MM Sr. Preferred Debt 'Caa1'
----------------------------------------------------------------
Moody's Investors Service has assigned a local currency long-term
senior unsecured (also commonly referred to as "senior preferred")
rating of Caa1 to Alpha Bank S.A.'s proposed EUR500 million senior
preferred debt issue, maturing in March 2028 with an issuer call
option in March 2027. The senior unsecured debt ranks pari-passu
with other senior unsecured obligations and senior to any
subordinated debt (or Tier 2 bonds) and senior non-preferred
instruments in resolution and insolvency. All other outstanding
ratings and assessments of the bank remain unchanged, including the
positive outlook on the deposit ratings.

RATINGS RATIONALE

The Caa1 rating assigned to Alpha Bank's long-term senior unsecured
debt issue reflects (1) the bank's caa1 Adjusted Baseline Credit
Assessment (Adjusted BCA); and (2) no rating uplift from Moody's
Advanced LGF analysis that indicates the relatively low loss
absorption buffer this provides in the bank's liability structure,
given that there are no other senior unsecured obligations
outstanding and just EUR1 billion of subordinated Tier 2 bonds
available as more junior instruments.

The analysis assumes a residual Tangible Common Equity (TCE) ratio
of 3% for the bank and post-failure losses of 13% of tangible
banking assets, a 25% runoff in junior wholesale deposits, a 5%
runoff in preferred deposits and 26% of junior deposits over total
deposits. It captures Moody's Banks Methodology, as it is applied
to countries subject to the European Union's (EU) Bank Recovery and
Resolution Directive (BRRD) such as Greece, which is considered to
have in place an Operational Resolution Regime.

Moody's notes that these senior preferred bonds are recognised as
instruments for the purpose of minimum requirement for own funds
and eligible liabilities (MREL), which has been set at 26% of Alpha
Bank's risk-weighted assets (RWAs) by the Single Resolution Board
(SRB). Moody's understands that Greek banks, including Alpha Bank,
will have an extended timeline to meet their MREL by the end of
2025, and is currently assessing their respective funding plans
over this period aiming to adopt a more forward-looking approach in
its Advanced LGF analysis.

The rating agency assumes a low probability of support from the
Government of Greece (Ba3, stable) in favour of the senior
unsecured debt holders of the bank, which does not translate into
any rating uplift.

RATING OUTLOOK

The positive rating outlook assigned to this senior debt issuance
reflects the current upward pressure on Alpha Bank's standalone and
Adjusted BCA of caa1. This takes into consideration its
considerably improved asset quality and prospects for this, as well
as earnings generation, to improve further. While the bank's
nonperforming exposures (NPE) remain relatively high at around 26%
of gross loans as of June 2021, the ratio is likely to reduce to
around 13% by the end of 2021, from 43% in June 2020.

FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATING

Over the next 12-18 months, upward pressure on the bank's deposit
and senior debt ratings could emerge following improvements in the
country's macroeconomic environment and once the bank implements
its additional securitisation plans, resulting in better asset
quality and profitability, as well as relatively stable capital
metrics. The potential raising of additional MREL-eligible debt
would also increase the pool of unsecured obligations available to
Alpha Bank, which could trigger a deposit and senior debt rating
upgrade, in accordance with Moody's Advanced LGF approach.

Although unlikely, Alpha Bank's deposit ratings could be downgraded
in the event that the pandemic substantially affects domestic
consumption and economic activity for an extended period, which
could severely affect the bank's underlying financial fundamentals
that have gradually been recovering from a very low base. In
addition, the deposit ratings could be downgraded if the sovereign
rating and Macro Profile for Greece are downgraded or in case the
bank is unable to further reduce its stock of NPEs by 2022.

LIST OF AFFECTED RATINGS

Issuer: Alpha Bank S.A.

Assignment:

Senior Unsecured Regular Bond/Debenture, Assigned Caa1, Outlook
assigned Positive

PRINCIPAL METHODOLOGY

The principal methodology used in this rating was Banks Methodology
published in July 2021.




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I R E L A N D
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VOYA EURO CLO V: Fitch Assigns Final B- Rating on Class F Debt
--------------------------------------------------------------
Fitch Ratings has assigned Voya Euro CLO V DAC final ratings.

    DEBT                                   RATING
    ----                                   ------
Voya Euro CLO V DAC

A XS2372435797                     LT  AAAsf   New Rating
B-1 XS2372435953                   LT  AAsf    New Rating
B-2 XS2372435870                   LT  AAsf    New Rating
C XS2372436092                     LT  Asf     New Rating
D XS2372436258                     LT  BBB-sf  New Rating
E XS2372436175                     LT  BB-sf   New Rating
F XS2372436332                     LT  B-sf    New Rating
Subordinated Notes XS2372436506    LT  NRsf    New Rating
Z notes XS2374231947               LT  NRsf    New Rating

TRANSACTION SUMMARY

Voya Euro CLO V DAC is a securitisation of mainly senior secured
obligations (at least 90%) with a component of senior unsecured,
mezzanine, second-lien loans, first-lien, last-out loans and
high-yield bonds. Net proceeds from the issuance of the notes have
been used to fund a portfolio with a target par of EUR350 million.
The portfolio is actively managed by Voya Alternative Asset
Management LLC. The transaction has a 4.6-year reinvestment period
and an 8.5-year weighted average life (WAL).

KEY RATING DRIVERS

Average Portfolio Credit Quality (Neutral): Fitch assesses the
average credit quality of obligors to be in the 'B'' category. The
Fitch weighted average rating factor (WARF) of the identified
portfolio based on Exposure Draft: CLOs and Corporate CDOs Rating
Criteria is 24.47.

High Recovery Expectations (Positive): At least 90% of the
portfolio comprises senior secured obligations. Fitch views the
recovery prospects for these assets as more favourable than for
second-lien, unsecured and mezzanine assets. The Fitch weighted
average recovery rate (WARR) of the portfolio is 63.75%.

Diversified Portfolio (Positive): The transaction includes two
Fitch matrices corresponding to two top 10 obligor concentration
limits at 15% and 23% with fixed-rate asset limited to 5%. The
transaction also includes various concentration limits, including
the maximum exposure to the three largest (Fitch-defined)
industries in the portfolio at 40%. These covenants ensure that the
asset portfolio will not be exposed to excessive concentration.

Portfolio Management (Neutral): The transaction has a 4.6-year
reinvestment period and includes reinvestment criteria similar to
those of other European transactions. Fitch's analysis is based on
a stressed portfolio with the aim of testing the robustness of the
transaction structure against its covenants and portfolio
guidelines.

Cash Flow Modelling (Neutral): The WAL used for the transaction
stress portfolio and matrices analysis is 12 months less than the
WAL covenant, to account for structural and reinvestment conditions
after the reinvestment period, including the OC tests and Fitch
'CCC' limitation and WARF test passing after reinvestment, among
other things. This ultimately reduces the maximum possible risk
horizon of the portfolio when combined with loan pre-payment
expectations.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

Factors that could, individually or collectively, lead to positive
rating action/upgrade:

-- A reduction of the default rate (RDR) at all rating levels by
    25% of the mean RDR and an increase in the recovery rate (RRR)
    by 25% at all rating levels would result in an upgrade of up
    to four notches depending on the notes, except for the class A
    notes, which are already at the highest rating on Fitch's
    scale and cannot be upgraded.

-- At closing, Fitch uses a standardised stress portfolio
    (Fitch's stressed portfolio) that was customised to the
    portfolio limits as specified in the transaction documents.
    Even if the actual portfolio shows lower defaults and smaller
    losses at all rating levels than Fitch's stressed portfolio
    assumed at closing, an upgrade of the notes during the
    reinvestment period is unlikely, as the portfolio credit
    quality may still deteriorate, not only by natural credit
    migration, but also through reinvestments.

-- After the end of the reinvestment period, upgrades may occur
    on better-than-expected portfolio credit quality and deal
    performance, leading to higher credit enhancement and excess
    spread available to cover for losses in the remaining
    portfolio.

Factor that could, individually or collectively, lead to negative
rating action/downgrade:

-- An increase of the RDR at all rating levels by 25% of the mean
    RDR and a decrease of the RRR by 25% at all rating levels will
    result in downgrades of no more than five notches depending on
    the notes.

USE OF THIRD PARTY DUE DILIGENCE PURSUANT TO SEC RULE 17G -10

Form ABS Due Diligence-15E was not provided to, or reviewed by,
Fitch in relation to this rating action.

DATA ADEQUACY

Voya Euro CLO V DAC

The majority of the underlying assets or risk presenting entities
have ratings or credit opinions from Fitch and/or other Nationally
Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations and/or European
Securities and Markets Authority registered rating agencies. Fitch
has relied on the practices of the relevant groups within Fitch
and/or other rating agencies to assess the asset portfolio
information or information on the risk presenting entities.

Form ABS Due Diligence-15E was not provided to, or reviewed by,
Fitch in relation to this rating action

Overall, and together with any assumptions referred to above,
Fitch's assessment of the information relied upon for the agency's
rating analysis according to its applicable rating methodologies
indicates that it is adequately reliable.


VOYA EURO CLO V: S&P Assigns B- Rating on EUR10.5MM Class F Notes
-----------------------------------------------------------------
S&P Global Ratings assigned its credit ratings to Voya Euro CLO V
DAC's class A, B-1, B-2, C, D, E, and F notes. At closing, the
issuer also issued unrated class Z notes and subordinated notes.

At closing, the manager had identified approximately 82% of the
target effective date portfolio. S&P said, "We consider that the
target portfolio will be well-diversified, primarily comprising
broadly syndicated speculative-grade senior secured term loans.
Therefore, we have conducted our credit and cash flow analysis by
applying our criteria for corporate cash flow collateralized debt
obligations."

  Portfolio Benchmarks
                                                         CURRENT
  S&P weighted-average rating factor                    2,788.90
  Default rate dispersion                                 408.63
  Weighted-average life (years)                             5.58
  Obligor diversity measure                               144.73
  Industry diversity measure                               17.88
  Regional diversity measure                                1.27
  Weighted-average rating                                      B
  'CCC' category rated assets (%)                           0.29
  'AAA' weighted-average recovery rate (%)                 36.07
  Floating-rate assets (%)                                    99
  Weighted-average spread (net of floors; %)                3.74

S&P said, "In our cash flow analysis, we used the EUR350 million
target par amount, the covenanted weighted-average spread (3.55%),
the reference weighted-average coupon (5.50%), and the minimum
weighted-average recovery rates as indicated by the collateral
manager. We applied various cash flow stress scenarios, using four
different default patterns, in conjunction with different interest
rate stress scenarios for each liability rating category.

"Our credit and cash flow analysis shows that the class B-1, B-2,
C, D, and E notes benefit from break-even default rate (BDR) and
scenario default rate cushions that we would typically consider to
be in line with higher ratings than those assigned. However, as the
CLO is still in its reinvestment phase, during which the
transaction's credit risk profile could deteriorate, we have capped
our assigned ratings on the notes.

"For the class F notes, our credit and cash flow analysis indicates
that the available credit enhancement is commensurate with a lower
rating. However, after applying our 'CCC' criteria, we have
assigned a 'B- (sf)' rating to this class of notes." The uplift to
'B-' reflects several key factors, including:

-- The available credit enhancement for this class of notes is in
the same range as other CLOs that S&P rates, and that has recently
been issued in Europe.

-- The portfolio's average credit quality is similar to other
recent CLOs.

-- S&P's model generated BDR at the 'B-' rating level of 27.50%
(for a portfolio with a weighted-average life of 5.58 years),
versus if it was to consider a long-term sustainable default rate
of 3.1% for 5.58 years, which would result in a target default rate
of 17.31%.

-- S&P also noted that the actual portfolio is generating higher
spreads and recoveries versus the covenanted thresholds that S&P
has modelled in its cash flow analysis.

-- The Bank of New York Mellon, London Branch is the bank account
provider and custodian. Its documented replacement provisions are
in line with S&P's counterparty criteria for liabilities rated up
to 'AAA'.

-- The issuer is bankruptcy remote, in accordance with S&P's legal
criteria.

-- The CLO is managed by Voya Alternative Asset Management LLC.
Under S&P's "Global Framework For Assessing Operational Risk In
Structured Finance Transactions," published on Oct. 9, 2014, the
maximum potential rating on the liabilities is 'AAA'.

Loss mitigation obligation mechanics

The issuer may acquire loss mitigation obligations to enhance and
protect the recovery value of a defaulted or credit impaired
obligations from the same obligor.

The issuer may purchase loss mitigation obligations using either
interest proceeds, principal proceeds, or amounts in the collateral
enhancement account. The use of interest proceeds to purchase loss
mitigation obligations is subject to the manager determining there
are sufficient interest proceeds to pay interest on all the rated
notes and that all coverage tests would pass on the upcoming
payment date. The use of principal proceeds is subject to the
following conditions: (i) par coverage tests and reinvestment test
passing following the purchase; (ii) the manager having built
sufficient excess par in the transaction so that the principal
collateral amount is equal to or exceeds the portfolio's target par
balance after the reinvestment, or otherwise the amount of proceeds
used does not exceed the related obligation's principal balance
provided further that the obligation has limited deviation from the
eligibility criteria; and (iii) the obligation is a debt obligation
that is pari passu or senior to the obligation already held by the
issuer.

Loss mitigation obligations that are purchased with principal
proceeds and have limited deviation from the eligibility criteria
will receive collateral value credit in the adjusted collateral
principal amount or the principal balance determination. To protect
the transaction from par erosion, any distributions received from
loss mitigation loans purchased with the use of principal proceeds
will form part of the issuer's principal account proceeds and
cannot be recharacterized as interest.

Loss mitigation obligations that are purchased with interest will
receive zero credit in the principal balance determination, and the
proceeds received will form part of the issuer's interest account
proceeds. The manager can however elect to give collateral value
credit to loss mitigation loans, purchased with interest proceeds,
subject to them meeting the same limited deviation from eligibility
criteria conditions. The proceeds from any loss mitigations
reclassified in this way are credited to the principal account.

The cumulative exposure to loss mitigation loans purchased with
principal is limited to 5% of the reinvestment target par balance.
The cumulative exposure to loss mitigation loans purchased with
principal and interest is limited to 10% of the reinvestment target
par balance.

S&P said, "Following our analysis of the credit, cash flow,
counterparty, operational, and legal risks, we believe our ratings
are commensurate with the available credit enhancement for each
class of notes.

"In addition to our standard analysis, to provide an indication of
how rising pressures among speculative-grade corporates could
affect our ratings on European CLO transactions, we have also
included the sensitivity of the ratings on the class A to E notes
to five of the 10 hypothetical scenarios we looked at in our
publication, "How Credit Distress Due To COVID-19 Could Affect
European CLO Ratings," published on April 2, 2020.

"As our ratings analysis makes additional considerations before
assigning ratings in the 'CCC' category, and we would assign a 'B-'
rating if the criteria for assigning a 'CCC' category rating are
not met, we have not included the above scenario analysis results
for the class F notes."

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors

S&P said, "We regard the exposure to ESG credit factors in the
transaction as being broadly in line with our benchmark for the
sector. Primarily due to the diversity of the assets within CLOs,
the exposure to environmental credit factors is viewed as below
average, social credit factors are below average, and governance
credit factors are average. For this transaction, the documents
prohibit assets from being related to the following industries:
controversial weapons, nuclear weapons, thermal coal, oil and gas,
pornography or prostitution, opioid manufacturing or distribution,
and hazardous chemicals. Accordingly, since the exclusion of assets
from these industries does not result in material differences
between the transaction and our ESG benchmark for the sector, no
specific adjustments have been made in our rating analysis to
account for any ESG-related risks or opportunities."

  Ratings List

  CLASS   RATING*   AMOUNT    CREDIT         INTEREST RATE§
                  (MIL. EUR)  ENHANCEMENT (%)
  A       AAA (sf)   213.00     39.14      Three/six-month EURIBOR

                                             plus 1.04%
  B-1     AA (sf)     24.00     28.00      Three/six-month EURIBOR

                                             plus 1.75%
  B-2     AA (sf)     15.00     28.00      2.10%
  C       A (sf)      24.00     21.14      Three/six-month EURIBOR

                                             plus 2.15%
  D       BBB (sf)    21.75     14.93      Three/six-month EURIBOR

                                             plus 3.10%
  E       BB- (sf)    18.00      9.79      Three/six-month EURIBOR

                                             plus 5.81%
  F       B- (sf)     10.50      6.79      Three/six-month EURIBOR

                                             plus 8.53%
  Z       NR           0.25       N/A      N/A
  Subordinated  NR    28.60       N/A      N/A

*The ratings assigned to the class A, B-1, and B-2 notes address
timely interest and ultimate principal payments. The ratings
assigned to the class C, D, E, and F notes address ultimate
interest and principal payments.

§The payment frequency switches to semiannual and the index
switches to six-month

EURIBOR when a frequency switch event occurs.

NR--Not rated.

N/A--Not applicable.

EURIBOR--Euro Interbank Offered Rate.




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I T A L Y
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ALITALIA SPA: Italy Accelerates Sale of Assets to Successor
-----------------------------------------------------------
Flavia Rotondi at Bloomberg News, citing daily Il Messaggero,
reports that Italy's government is accelerating the sale of some
Alitalia assets to successor airline ITA in order to avoid
potential EU sanctions on state aid.

According to Bloomberg, the move may also help avoid potential
bankruptcy for the carrier.

                         About Alitalia

With headquarters in Fiumicino, Rome, Italy, Alitalia is the flag
carrier of Italy.  Its main hub is Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino
Airport, Rome.  The company has a workforce of 12,000+. It reported
EUR2,915 million in revenues in 2017.

Alitalia and its subsidiary, Alitalia Cityliner S.p.A., are in
Extraordinary Administation (EA), by virtue of decrees of the
Ministry of Economic Development on May 2 and May 17, 2017,
respectively.  The companies were subsequently declared insolvent
on May 11 and May 26, 2017 respectively.  

Luigi Gubitosi, Prof. Enrico Laghi and Prof. Stefano Paleari were
appointed as Extraordinary Commissioners of the Companies in
Extraordinary Administration.

The Italian government ruled out nationalizing Alitalia in 2017 and
since then, the airline has been put up for sale.  To this
development, Delta Airlines, Easyjet and Italian railway company
Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane have expressed interest in acquiring
the airline in 2018.  Since then, Easyjet has withdrawn its offer.


MAGGESE SRL: Moody's Cuts Rating on EUR170MM Class A Notes to Ba3
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the rating of Class A
notes in Maggese S.r.l. The rating action reflects slower than
anticipated cash-flows generated from the recovery process on the
non-performing loans (NPLs).

EUR170.81M Class A Notes, Downgraded to Ba3 (sf); previously on
Jul 2, 2020 Downgraded to Ba1 (sf)

RATINGS RATIONALE

The rating action is prompted by slower than anticipated cash-flows
generated from the recovery process on the NPLs.

Slower than anticipated cash-flows generated from the recovery
process on the NPLs:

As of July 2021, Cumulative Collection Ratio were at 59.99%, based
on collections net of legal and procedural costs, meaning that
collections are coming significantly slower than anticipated in the
original Business Plan projections. Indeed, through the June 30,
2021 collection period, six collection periods since closing,
aggregate collections net of legal and procedural costs were
EUR69.5 million versus original business plan expectations of
EUR115.8 million.

NPV Cumulative Profitability Ratio stood at 99.2%, slightly below
original servicer's expectations, however it only refers to closed
positions while the time to process open positions and the future
collections on those remain to be seen.

In term of underlying portfolio, the reported GBV stood at EUR584
million as of June 2021 down from EUR700 million at closing, mostly
concentrated in one single region (Piedmont, 77%). Around 1,600
properties have been sold and values achieved at sale range between
35% and 74% of property valuations depending on the asset type.

Maggese S.r.l. was underperforming the special servicer's original
projection already at the time of previous rating action in July
2020, but performance has deteriorated significantly in the past 12
months. This portfolio has a higher borrower concentration than
other Italian NPLs securitisations. About 17% of the pool Gross
Book Value ("GBV") is concentrated on the top 10 obligors, which
increases potential performance volatility. In addition, 38.7% of
GBV for Secured positions, under Moody's classification, have open
procedures in two tribunals, namely Asti or Turin which translates
into a large dependency on the performance of these tribunals.

Moody's notes that Class B deferral trigger has been hit at the
Payment Dates falling in January 2021 and July 2021 (with EUR1.4
million interests being deferred).

NPL transactions' cash flows depend on the timing and amount of
collections. Due to the current economic environment, Moody's has
considered additional stresses in its analysis, including a 6 to
12-month delay in the recovery timing.

Moody's has taken into account the potential cost of the GACS
Guarantee within its cash flow modelling, while any potential
benefit from the guarantee for the senior Noteholders has not been
considered in its analysis.

The action has considered the coronavirus pandemic's residual
impact on Italy's economic activity and the ongoing effect on the
performance of NPLs as the economy continues on the path toward
normalization. Economic activity will continue to strengthen in
2021 because of several factors, including the rollout of vaccines,
growing household consumption and accommodative central bank
policy. However, specific sectors and individual businesses will
remain weakened by extended virus restrictions.

Moody's regard the coronavirus outbreak as a social risk under its
ESG framework, given the substantial implications for public health
and safety.

The principal methodology used in this rating was "Non-Performing
and Re-Performing Loan Securitizations Methodology" published in
April 2020.

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

Factors or circumstances that could lead to an upgrade of the
rating include: (i) the recovery process of the non-performing
loans producing significantly higher cash-flows in a shorter time
frame than expected; (ii) improvements in the credit quality of the
transaction counterparties; and (iii) a decrease in sovereign
risk.

Factors or circumstances that could lead to a downgrade of the
rating include: (i) significantly lower or slower cash-flows
generated from the recovery process on the non-performing loans due
to either a longer time for the courts to process the foreclosures
and bankruptcies, a change in economic conditions from Moody's
central scenario forecast or idiosyncratic performance factors. For
instance, should economic conditions be worse than forecasted and
the sale of the properties generate less cash-flows for the issuer
or take a longer time to sell the properties, all these factors
could result in a downgrade of the rating; (ii) deterioration in
the credit quality of the transaction counterparties; and (iii)
increase in sovereign risk.


VERDE BIDCO: Moody's Assigns 'B2' CFR & Rates EUR450MM Notes 'B2'
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Moody's Investors Service has assigned a B2 Corporate Family Rating
and a B2-PD Probability of Default Rating to Verde Bidco S.p.A., a
holding company of Itelyum Group, an Italian industrial hazardous
waste management company. Concurrently, Moody's has also assigned a
B2 rating to the proposed EUR450 million senior secured notes (the
Notes) to be issued by Verde Bidco S.p.A. The outlook is stable.

Net proceeds from the issuance of the Notes will be used to fund
the acquisition of the current holding company of the Itelyum
Group, SSCP Green Holdings S.C.A., by a fund managed by Stirling
Square Capital Partners (SSCP Fund IV) and private investment firm
Deutsche Beteiligungs AG, including the repayment of substantially
all existing indebtedness.

The assigned ratings are subject to review of final documentation
and no material change to the size, terms and conditions of the
transaction as communicated to Moody's.

RATINGS RATIONALE

The B2 CFR assigned to Itelyum Group reflects (1) the company's
leading market position in certain markets for hazardous industrial
waste in Italy; (2) its overall high degree of profitability with
pro-forma EBITDA margins in the high teens supporting Moody's
expectations of annual free cash flow in the range of EUR30
million; (3) some degree of barriers to entry due to the regulatory
environment and the company's chemical & processing know-how; (4) a
track record demonstrating a certain resilience; and (5) a good
liquidity profile.

At the same time, the B2 CFR is constrained by (1) the company's
overall small scale with revenues of EUR331 million reported in
2020; (2) its overall high leverage -- measured as Moody's adjusted
gross debt/ EBITDA -- expected to be above 5x over the next 24
months; (3) some degree of event risk as the company is likely to
remain acquisitive, although this is partly mitigated by a solid
track record of integrating smaller bolt-on acquisitions; and (4)
some uncertainty around long-term operating performance in the
regeneration segment where an eventual strong acceleration in
demand for electric vehicles could affect the demand for the
division's product.

ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND GOVERNANCE (ESG) CONSIDERATIONS

Environmental considerations supporting the B2 CFR include
increasing environmental awareness and the push towards recycling
from the private and public sectors. In this regard, Verde has a
strong record of delivering environmental benefits by diverting
waste from landfills through its environmental, regeneration and
purification division. Waste management activities are subject to
stringent regulations and strict monitoring. Verde complies with
environmental laws and regulations and obtains necessary government
permits for its operations, with no material issues disclosed.

The B2 CFR also reflects governance considerations such as the
ownership by SSCP Fund IV, post transaction. Private equity firms
tend to prioritise more aggressive growth plans and strategies,
including a tolerance for higher leverage.

STRUCTURAL CONSIDERATIONS

The proposed EUR450 million senior secured notes are rated B2, in
line with the CFR. The capital structure mainly consists of the
bonds and a EUR50 million revolving credit facility (RCF), which
will rank ahead of the bonds as per the terms of the intercreditor
agreement.

Bondholders will benefit from upstream guarantees from operating
subsidiaries representing around 65% of the group's adjusted
EBITDA. In addition, there will be intragroup loans from Verde to
the company's regeneration and purification divisions amounting to
approximately EUR150 million.

LIQUIDITY

Moody's expects Verde's liquidity profile to be good over the next
12-18 months. In addition to cash balances of around EUR31 million,
a further liquidity cushion is provided by access to the undrawn
EUR50 million RCF and Moody's expectation of free cash flow in the
range of EUR30 million per annum. The RCF has a maintenance
covenant without step-down and will only be tested if the facility
is drawn 40% or more.

OUTLOOK

The stable outlook on the ratings reflects Moody's expectations
that Verde will continue to grow its EBITDA from current levels
allowing for its leverage level to move comfortably below 6x Debt /
EBITDA over the next 18 months. Moreover, the stable outlook
incorporates the rating agency's assumptions that Verde will not
leverage up its balance sheet from current levels in the event a
larger acquisition was to be contemplated. The B2 CFR is currently
solidly positioned.

FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS

Upward pressure on the ratings would require Verde to continue to
display a resilience in operating performance and grow its EBITDA
so that its leverage ratio moves well below 5x.

The ratings could be downgraded should Verde's leverage remain
above 6x, or if the company's free cash flows were to turn negative
on a persistent basis.

Verde BidCo S.p.A., is the holding company that will own 100% of
the shares in Itelyum Group, an Italian waste processing company
involved across multiple steps of the value chain of hazardous
industrial waste. In 2020, Iteylum reported revenues of EUR331
million and an EBITDA of EU50 million.

The principal methodology used in these ratings was Environmental
Services and Waste Management Companies published in April 2018.


VERDE BIDCO: S&P Assigns Prelim. 'B' LongTerm Issuer Credit Rating
------------------------------------------------------------------
S&P Global Ratings assigned its preliminary 'B' long-term issuer
credit rating to Italian waste treatment service provider Verde
Bidco SpA (Itelyum). S&P also assigned its preliminary 'B' issue
rating to Itelyum's proposed senior secured notes, along with a
recovery rating of '4', indicating its expectation of average
recovery prospects (30%-50%; rounded estimate: 40%) in a default
scenario.

The stable outlook reflects S&P's view that Itelyum's continued
organic growth and the successful expansion of its capacity to
treat waste will result in an adjusted EBITDA margin of around
16.8%-17.3% in 2022-2023 and robust funds from operations (FFO)
cash interest coverage above 3.5x.

Itelyum's dominant market shares in Italy and one-stop-shop service
offering are counterbalanced by its small scale and limited
geographical scope. S&P assesses positively the group's leadership
position in the Italian industrial hazardous waste processing and
recycling market. Itelyum has an estimated 6%-7% market share in
the industrial hazardous waste management market, an 89% market
share in regeneration, and a 50% share in waste solvent
purification. In terms of competitive threats, the group has
front-loaded its investments and now has one of largest recycling
facilities in Europe, with two-to-three times the capacity of its
nearest Italian competitors and the capability to process 830
thousand tons of waste solvent per year. S&P believes this protects
the group from the threat of new entrants. Further support comes
from a stringent regulatory framework in Italy, where it can take
three-to-four years for existing providers to receive approval to
increase authorized plant capacity, and where technical expertise
and track record are key to winning contracts. In addition, the
scope of the group's services and its ability to treat hazardous
waste throughout the whole lifecycle are key value propositions,
since we see the industrial hazardous waste treatment market as
relatively fragmented. At the same time, the group's competitive
position is constrained by what we see as its relatively small size
compared to other peers S&P rates in the environmental services
industry, with around EUR402 million in revenues and EUR85 million
in pro forma company reported EBITDA for the last 12 months ending
June 30, 2021. It is nevertheless larger than most of its direct
competitors in Italy. The group serves clients globally, but a
significant portion of its revenues--about 80%--are tied to the
Italian market.

Itelyum operates in a sector that is characterized by an innate
resilience to external conditions, as evident from the group's
performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. S&P views the group's
business as resilient, although the pandemic and subsequent
lockdowns affected the performance of the regeneration segment. A
large reduction in volumes drove a 12.8% decrease in this segment's
revenue relative to the prior year. Nevertheless, the regeneration
segment still had resilient profitability through a treatment fee
from CONOU, the National Consortium for the Management, Collection
and Treatment of Used Mineral Oils, and an incentive mechanism. The
fee provides a floor on the profitability of this segment as it is
inversely correlated with the market price of lubricant oil.
Performance in the two other segments, environment and
purification, was relatively strong despite the recession in Italy,
with low- to mid-single-digit growth in revenues in 2020. This was
mainly due to outperformance in the pharmaceutical end market, to
which the purification segment is heavily exposed, and growing
volumes in the environment segment, despite some declines in the
amount of waste treated from industries affected by the pandemic.

S&P said, "We believe that Itelyum is in a good position to grow
further over 2022-2023 through the expansion of its service
offering and improvements in operational efficiency. Indeed, we
expect future organic growth and management initiatives to focus on
increasing processing capacity and enhancing the existing plant
technology to improve the output yield--the percentage of processed
waste that is regenerated during the treatment lifecycle. We
believe that this focus will represent the lion's share of
Itelyum's capital program and growth capital expenditure (capex),
which we estimate will increase to around EUR28 million-EUR30
million in 2021, before declining toward historical levels of 3%-4%
of sales in 2023." At the same time, the group is seeking to
improve profitability by expanding its one-stop-shop offering, and
by making process improvements, such as rationalizing its fleet of
collection vehicles and optimizing route density.

Itelyum operates in a sector that is set to benefit from new
regulation linked to increased awareness of sustainability and
increased adoption of circular-economy principles at the EU level.
Itelyum's business model is based on waste recycling and
valorization solutions, with the latter providing an economic- and
value-recovery service for polluted waste. S&P said, "We believe
that the group would benefit from growth in its capacity to treat
the increasing waste volumes being diverted from landfills and
incinerators. For context, Itelyum's average plant utilization was
an estimated 66% in 2019, and will benefit from further investments
to increase the authorized capacity of existing plants. As such, we
believe that Itelyum is one of the players that could benefit from
environmental directives promoting higher recycling targets within
the EU, as it has the capacity to process extra waste."

S&P said, "We understand that Itelyum is looking at expanding into
the treatment of industrial water, which presents a large and
fragmented addressable market. We believe that Itelyum's foray into
new markets could occur through strategic acquisitions. This would
also offer Itelyum the possibility of entering new neighboring
European markets. That said, we view this expansion as a potential
medium-term objective that extends beyond our two-year forecast
horizon. As such, it is not part of our current base case for
2022-2023, and we do not forecast any mergers or acquisitions (M&A)
or cash outflows, except a deferred consideration of around EUR5.8
million as part of the acquisition of Italian water treatment and
purification company Castiglia acquisition in July 2021. We reflect
this deferred consideration in our range for Itelyum's free
operating cash flow (FOCF) of EUR13 million-EUR23 million in
2022-2023.

"We view Itelyum's leverage following the proposed transaction as
elevated considering the size of its EBITDA base. The transaction
will see the issuance of EUR450 million in new senior secured
notes, relative to a statutory EBITDA base of EUR50 million in
2020, as we do not include any EBITDA add-backs. Our base-case
forecast is for adjusted debt to EBITDA of 8.3x by the end of 2021,
before gradually reducing toward 7.0x-7.6x in 2022-2023. Our debt
figure also includes around EUR29 million of factoring liabilities
and EUR6.3 million of post-retirement obligations. Despite the high
leverage, FFO cash interest coverage remains resilient and strong,
in our view, exceeding 3.5x in 2022 and 2023.

"The ratings are constrained by Itelyum's financial sponsor
ownership. We assess as positive the fact that the sponsor does not
intend to take any dividends and will likely remain invested in the
business for a longer period than the typical five-year lifecycle
for private equity investment. This is because Stirling first
invested in Itelyum in 2016 through its third fund. We also
understand from our conversations with the financial sponsor that
any M&A funding would likely come from equity contributions and
internally generated cash flow, which we would view as credit
positive. That said, we assess Itelyum's leverage as elevated. We
reflect this by assigning an 'FS-6' score for the group's financial
policy.

"The final ratings will depend on our receipt and satisfactory
review of all final transaction documentation. Accordingly, the
preliminary ratings should not be construed as evidence of the
final ratings. If we do not receive the final documentation within
a reasonable time frame, or if the final documentation departs from
the materials we have reviewed, we reserve the right to withdraw or
revise our ratings. Potential changes include, but are not limited
to, changes to the equity injection, as per the finalized
shareholder purchase agreement, the use of the note proceeds, the
maturity, size, and conditions of the notes, financial and other
covenants, security, and ranking.

"The stable outlook reflects our view that Itelyum's continued
organic growth and the successful expansion of its capacity to
treat waste will result in an adjusted EBITDA margin of around
16.8%-17.3% and robust FFO cash interest coverage of above 3.5x in
2022-2023.

"We could lower the rating if Itelyum faced adverse operating
developments, with persistent and negative FOCF and the EBITDA
margin falling below 12% without a high likelihood of improvement
over the next few years. We could also take a negative rating
action if the group failed to deleverage, or if it undertook
significant debt-funded acquisitions, such that the FFO cash
interest coverage ratio fell below 2.0x.

"We see limited rating upside potential in the near term due to
Itelyum's relatively small scale and elevated leverage. However, we
could consider taking a positive rating action if the group had a
significant step-up in scale, in tandem with stronger EBITDA
growth, resulting in adjusted leverage falling to around 5.0x on a
sustained basis. In such a scenario, we would also expect to see
the group generating positive and material FOCF, alongside a
commitment from the financial sponsor to maintain leverage at
around 5.0x."




=====================
N E T H E R L A N D S
=====================

STEINHOFF: New Intervention Applications May Delay Liquidation
--------------------------------------------------------------
Jan Cronje at Fin24 reports that a slew of new intervention
applications may further delay the start of a court bid to have
retailer Steinhoff declared insolvent and placed into provisional
liquidation.   

The winding-up application was set down to be heard over two days
this week starting on Sept. 14, Fin24 discloses.  But in the end,
the court did not hear any evidence related to the state of
Steinhoff's finances on day one, Fin24 states.  Instead, it dealt
with matters relating to the interventions applications, as well a
complex set of interrelated bids for postponement and applications
for leave to appeal, Fin24 discloses.

According to Fin24, the liquidation bid is being brought by the
former owners of Tekkie Town, who say they were "duped" by
Steinhoff's former CEO Markus Jooste into swapping valuable shares
in the footwear chain they built from scratch for stock in
Steinhoff.  But the value of their Steinhoff stock plunged in late
2017 at the first signs of an accounting scandal, Fin24 recounts.


Last week, in the first leg of the case, the Western High Court
ruled that it had jurisdiction to hear the liquidation bid, even
though Steinhoff's ultimate holding company is registered in the
Netherlands, Fin24 relays.

While Tekkie Town's lawyers said they were ready to start arguing
the merits of the main application on Sept. 14, lawyers for
Steinhoff said it was still too early to begin, Fin24 notes.

The court on Sept. 14 heard that three new parties had applied to
intervene in the case, Fin24 relates.

They are Steinhoff's former auditors Deloitte, Hamilton -- which
represents large SA fund managers -- and a group called Demior
Recovery Services, which says it is acting on behalf of 127
applicants, Fin24 discloses.

According to Fin24, Steinhoff, meanwhile, is seeking leave to
appeal two previous rulings in the case.  It also wants the
liquidation hearing to be postponed while a separate appeal to the
Supreme Court of Appeal is heard, Fin24 notes.

To complicate matters further, two other parties that had
previously applied to intervene in the case but whose bids were
dismissed want to bring applications for leave to appeal these
rulings, according to Fin24.

Advocate Deon Irish, for Tekkie Town, argued that the correct time
for appeals to be heard was at the end of the main case when the
insolvency ruling is made, Fin24 relates.  He also noted that judge
had already dismissed a postponement application last week, Fin24
notes.

Mr. Irish argued that an appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal
might delay matters by up to ten months, Fin24 relays.

But Advocate Arnold Subel, for Steinhoff, argued that the main case
could not be heard given the number of applications for
intervention, postponement and leave to appeal that had been
lodged, Fin24 discloses.

Steinhoff, Fin24 says, wants the matter to stand down until it has
argued for leave to appeal before the Supreme Court of Appeal.  The
retailer holds that Judge Hayley Slingers was wrong in law to rule
that a South African court could hear the liquidation of an
"external company" headquartered overseas, Fin24 notes.

In the end, Judge Slingers adjourned proceedings until 11:30 on
Sept. 15, Fin24 discloses.

She may also give a ruling on whether the case will be postponed,
Fin24 states.




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

LSR GROUP: Fitch Affirms 'B+' LongTerm IDR, Outlook Stable
----------------------------------------------------------
Fitch Ratings has affirmed PJSC LSR Group's Long-Term Issuer
Default Rating (IDR) at 'B+' with a Stable Outlook. Fitch has also
affirmed the senior unsecured rating of the outstanding bond issues
at 'B+'/RR4'/'50%'.

LSR's IDR reflects the company's position as the second-largest
homebuilder in Russia, its geographical and business
diversification, and the favourable mortgage market environment.
The rating is constrained by high leverage, which exceeds some
peers and the higher volatility of the Russian residential market
compared with developed European equivalents.

The Stable Outlook reflects Fitch's expectation that LSR will
continue to benefit from the current record low interest rates for
home purchasers' mortgages, which will support demand and sustain
sales as well as funds from operations (FFO). Fitch believes LSR's
ability to increase average sales prices will continue to mitigate
the rising prices in building materials in 2021.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

Good Performance Amid Pandemic: LSR's operating performance
outperformed Fitch's expectations with sales prices increasing by
about 11% yoy on average in 2020, while total sales volume remained
flat. Nevertheless, in 1H21 similar to other large market players,
LSR reported mid-teens revenue growth supported by a rise in
average prices of 40% yoy. Following new project launches, Fitch
expects a revenue rise in the mid-teens in 2021-2022.

Temporary Rise of Leverage: Thanks to better FFO generation in
2020, LSR's FFO leverage improved to 4.5x as at end-2020 (end-2019:
6.8x), while FFO net leverage fell to 1.5x as at end-2020
(end-2019: 2.1x). Fitch forecasts FFO gross and net leverage to
increase to 5.0x and 2.6x at end-2021, respectively, temporarily
exceeding Fitch's negative rating sensitivity of 2.0x and 1.5x, due
to forecast large working capital outflows driven by the ongoing
transition to the new escrow scheme.

Management expects that by 2023-2024, over 90% of company projects
will be executed under the escrow scheme. This should result in a
normalisation of working capital volatility and improvement of
leverage metrics. Fitch's rating case forecasts FFO leverage to be
below 3.0x by 2023.  

Government Support of Residential Market: About 64% of LSR's sales
in 2020 were to purchasers with mortgage loans (47% in 2019). The
increase was mainly driven by the government's introduction of a
mortgage programme in April 2020, with a subsidised interest rate
of 6.5% for mortgages of up to RUB12 million. However, on 01 July
2021 the limit was reduced to RUB3 million and the interest rate
increased to 7%. In addition, the Central Bank of Russia has
gradually increased the refinancing rate from a record low 4.25%
(August 2020- mid-March 2021) to a current 6.75%, which pushed up
interest rates.

Nevertheless, Fitch believes that the volume of purchasers with
mortgage loans will remain high within LSR's sales, due to interest
rates still being lower than before 2020. This will support the
group's sales volume.

Leading Market Position: LSR is the second-largest homebuilder in
Russia (after PIK Group; BB-/Stable) in a highly competitive
residential market. It is the largest in St Petersburg, Russia's
second-largest city. The group's construction volume was about 3
million square metres (sqm) as at 1 September 2021 versus PIK
Group's more than 6 million sqm. LSR's strong market position,
extensive development experience and successful record in the
industry create a solid defensive competitive position, supporting
its long-term operating activity.

Good Geographical Diversification: LSR has better geographical
diversification than PIK, but some concentration. About 69% of the
sellable area as at end-2020 is in St Petersburg and about 20% in
Moscow, while PIK is primary concentrated in the Moscow
metropolitan area. Moscow and St Petersburg are the most lucrative
markets in Russia, with higher household disposable income than
other regions, providing LSR with more sustainable demand versus
market players operating outside of Moscow and St Petersburg.

Well-Balanced Segments Structure: LSR's project portfolio is
characterised by a better mix of segments than PIK, which operates
primary in the mass-market segment. About 43% of LSR's portfolio in
value terms (market value at end-2020) was attributed to the mass
market, 35% to the business segment and about 12% to the elite
segment. In addition, LSR is involved in the development of
commercial real estate, which constitutes about 8% of the total
portfolio.

Average Recovery of Senior Unsecured: LSR's senior unsecured bonds
do not benefit from upstream guarantees. Fitch estimates under its
bespoke recovery analysis that a liquidation approach, rather than
a going concern, will lead to higher recoveries for creditors,
given the market value of LSR's portfolio. The waterfall results in
'RR1' for bondholders, but because the company operates in Russia,
the recovery rating is capped at 'RR4'/50%.

DERIVATION SUMMARY

LSR is the second-largest residential developer in Russia after PIK
(BB-/Stable). LSR's peers also include Miller Homes Group Holdings
plc (BB-/Stable), Berkeley Group Holdings plc (BBB-/Stable) and
Neinor Homes, S.A. (BB-/Stable). Regulation and operating
environments differ across EMEA, making a direct comparison
difficult, although Fitch views the cash-flow cycle of a typical
project for a Russian housebuilder to be similar to that of the UK
and weaker than of France and Germany.

LSR is comparable with Miller Homes and Neinor based on scale and
size, but it is smaller than PIK and Berkeley. LSR's financial
profile is weaker than PIK, Neinor and Miller Homes, with FFO gross
leverage over 3.0x. Fitch forecasts a rise in LSR's FFO gross
leverage in 2021 to around 5.0x due to working capital outflows as
a result of transitioning to the escrow scheme. Fitch considers
this rise as temporary due and expect that from 2023 FFO gross
leverage will be below 3.0x.

KEY ASSUMPTIONS

Fitch's key assumptions within its rating case for the issuer
include:

-- Single-digit rise of revenue over the rating horizon averaging
    at 6.5% during 2021-2024;

-- EBITDA margin of about 22%-24% over 2021-2024;

-- Ongoing working capital outflow in 2021 higher than in 2020,
    which will gradually improve from 2022 due to the switch to
    escrow accounts;

-- No M&A;

-- Dividends payment of RUB4 billion in 2021-2024.

Key Recovery Rating Estimate Assumptions:

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

-- A 10% administrative claim.

-- The liquidation estimate reflects Fitch's view of the value of
    inventory and other assets that can be realised in a
    reorganisation and distributed to creditors.

-- Fitch's estimated liquidation value under a distressed
    scenario for LSR is approximately RUB139 billion.

-- Fitch estimates the total amount of debt for claims at
    RUB129.2 billion.

-- The waterfall results in 'RR1' recovery for senior unsecured
    debt. However, Fitch applies a country-cap of 'RR4' as the
    company operates in Russia. As a result, the senior unsecured
    bonds are rated 'B+'.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

Factors that could, individually or collectively, lead to positive
rating action/upgrade:

-- FFO-adjusted gross leverage below 2.0x on a sustained basis
    (netting escrow cash with relevant project development debt);

-- Significant improvement in financial metrics, leading to EBIT
    margin above 20%.

Factors that could, individually or collectively, lead to negative
rating action/downgrade:

-- FFO-adjusted gross leverage consistently above 3.0x (netting
    escrow cash with relevant project development debt) unless
    FFO-adjusted net leverage remains below 1.5x on a sustained
    basis;

-- Market deterioration leading to EBIT margin below 10% or
    worsened liquidity;

-- The senior unsecured rating on the bonds would be downgraded
    if Fitch's assessment of recoveries moves from 'Average' to
    'Below Average'.

BEST/WORST CASE RATING SCENARIO

International scale credit ratings of Non-Financial Corporate
issuers have a best-case rating upgrade scenario (defined as the
99th percentile of rating transitions, measured in a positive
direction) of three notches over a three-year rating horizon; and a
worst-case rating downgrade scenario (defined as the 99th
percentile of rating transitions, measured in a negative direction)
of four notches over three years. The complete span of best- and
worst-case scenario credit ratings for all rating categories ranges
from 'AAA' to 'D'. Best- and worst-case scenario credit ratings are
based on historical performance.

LIQUIDITY AND DEBT STRUCTURE

Strong Liquidity: Fitch-defined readily available cash of RUB69
billion as at end-2020 was more than sufficient to cover upcoming
debt repayments of about RUB11 billion within the next 12 months.
The group has also satisfactory headroom to cover expected negative
free cash flow arising due to transitioning to escrow accounts.

About 85% of debt at end-June 2021 is due on 2022-2023.
Nevertheless, high refinancing risk is mitigated by the group's
good long-term relationship with banks and its good access to
capital markets that has historically allowed LSR to successfully
refinance its debt.

The company is not exposed to FX risk, as all debt is raised in
Russian roubles.

ISSUER PROFILE

LSR is a second-largest housebuilder in Russia concentrating on the
most lucrative markets - St Petersburg and Moscow. The company also
has a building materials division, which contributed 16% of total
revenue in 2020.

SUMMARY OF FINANCIAL ADJUSTMENTS

Fitch nets escrowed cash with relevant project development loans
drawn, given that escrowed cash is foremost dedicated to the
development loan. Fitch does not treat net excess escrowed cash as
nettable against debt elsewhere in the group. As at end-2020, Fitch
deducted RUB1,244 million from the debt.

ESG CONSIDERATIONS

Unless otherwise disclosed in this section, the highest level of
ESG credit relevance is a score of '3'. This means ESG issues are
credit-neutral or have only a minimal credit impact on the entity,
either due to their nature or the way in which they are being
managed by the entity.


PIK-SPECIALIZED PJSC: Fitch Affirms 'BB-' LT IDR, Outlook Stable
----------------------------------------------------------------
Fitch Ratings has affirmed PJSC PIK-specialized homebuilder's
Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'BB-'. The Outlook is
Stable. The agency has also affirmed the Long-Term IDR of LLC
PIK-Corporation, the 100%-owned sub-holding of the group, at 'BB-'
with a Stable Outlook.

PIK's rating reflects its leading market position in Russia,
positive operating performance during the pandemic and the
favourable market environment. It also reflects moderate leverage,
but a concentrated portfolio, albeit in the lucrative Moscow and
Moscow region residential markets. Forecast funds from operations
(FFO) leverage will temporarily exceed the negative rating
sensitivity of 2.0x due to the transition to the escrow scheme.
Fitch forecasts FFO leverage to fall below 2.0x by 2023 as the
transition completes.

The rating also incorporates the higher volatility of the Russian
residential market compared with developed Western European
equivalents.

The Stable Outlook reflects Fitch's expectation that PIK will
continue to benefit from its purchasers having record low interest
rates for mortgage loans, which supports demand and sustains sales
and FFO generation. Fitch believes PIK's ability to increase sales
prices will continue to mitigate rising prices for building
materials in 2021.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

Better Than Expected Performance: PIK's 2020 revenue grew 37% yoy,
driven by favourable market conditions for the homebuilding
industry in Russia despite the pandemic. Profitability remained
healthy with mid-teens average sales price growth. The EBITDA
margin was 24.5% and the FFO margin reached 19%. In 1H21 similar to
other large market players, PIK reported material revenue growth of
38% yoy, with healthy profitability that supports Fitch's
expectation of strong revenue and FFO generation in 2021.

Government Support of Residential Market: The group's customers
primarily rely on the mortgage market. PIK's share of sales backed
by purchasers' mortgage loans reached 76% in 2020 and 79% in 1H21.
To support the homebuilding industry during the pandemic the
government introduced a mortgage programme in April 2020 with a
subsidised interest rate of 6.5% for loans of up to RUB12 million.
However, on 01 July 2021 the limit was reduced to RUB3 million and
the interest rate has increased to 7%. In addition, the Central
Bank of Russia has gradually increased the refinancing rate from a
record low 4.25% (August 2020- mid-March 2021) to the current
6.75%, which drives increased interest rates in the market.
Nevertheless, Fitch believes the volume of purchasers with mortgage
loans will remain high within PIK's portfolio as interest rates
remain lower than before 2020.

Increased Prices, Strong Demand: The Russian homebuilding industry
benefited from the pandemic in 2020 and 1H21 as the subsidised
mortgage rates and rouble depreciation during 2020 boosted demand.
The undersupplied market allowed homebuilders to increase sales
prices. PIK's average selling price growth was 15% yoy in 2020 and
25% yoy in 1H21, a trend in line with the market. These price
increases helped PIK mitigate profitability reductions caused by
higher prices for building materials in 2021. Fitch views the
increase as unsustainable and expect it to stabilise in the short
term with only single-digit rises.

Moderate Leverage: PIK's FFO leverage improved to 1.9x as at
end-2020 (end-2019: 2.6x) backed by strong sales and solid FFO
generation. Fitch expects FFO leverage to increase to 2.3x at
end-2021, temporarily exceeding Fitch's negative rating sensitivity
of 2.0x, due to large working capital outflows driven by the
ongoing transition to the new escrow scheme. Management expects
that by 2023 most projects will be executed under the escrow
scheme, which should normalise working capital volatility and
improve leverage metrics. Fitch's rating case indicates FFO
leverage below 2.0x by 2023.  

New Market Opportunities: PIK is gradually expanding its presence
in regions outside Moscow and certain international markets, as
well as construction of suburban housing and industrial parks. PIK
is active in the fee development business, which accounted for
about 13% of group revenues in 2020 and will likely contribute
about 17% in 2021-2024 on average.

Under this business, PIK charges construction fees, but typically
does not incur land purchase expenses. This part of the business
provides the group with stable but lower profitability than its
core business. Over 30% of the group's revenue is expected to be
driven by non-core business (including fee development) from 2022,
which Fitch views positively as it indicates earnings
diversification.

Leading Market Position: The group benefits from its strong market
share, solid record and experience. PIK is the largest homebuilder
in the fragmented Russian market. The group's construction volume
as at beginning of September 2021 of 6.1 million sqm is almost two
times higher than its closest peer, PSJC LSR Group (B+/Stable). PIK
successfully pioneered online sales of apartments in 2020. The
majority of PIK's sales are now online.

Concentrated Portfolio: About 80% of the group's portfolio by
selling area is concentrated on Moscow and the Moscow region. This
is the most lucrative residential market in Russia and is
characterised by higher disposable income and sustainable demand.
PIK primarily specialises in the construction of affordable mass
market residential areas using PIK-produced prefabricated parts.
Fitch views PIK's exposure to the mass-market segment as a
negative, as it can be vulnerable to macroeconomic swings.

DERIVATION SUMMARY

PIK Group is the largest residential developer in Russia. Its peers
include PJSC LSR Group, Miller Homes Group Holdings plc
(BB-/Stable), Neinor Homes, S.A. (BB-/Stable) and Berkeley Group
Holdings plc (BBB-/Stable). The operating and regulation
environments differ across EMEA, making direct comparison
difficult.

Under the newly implemented regulation the Russian homebuilders
fund land and construction costs mostly with debt and receives the
full amount of cash from homebuyers upon completion of the project.
This drives differences in cash flow volatility across EMEA markets
where the French market is considered to be the most regulated and
better for developers' cash flow cycle.

PIK is much bigger than LSR, Miller Homes and Neinor and the group
had a stronger financial profile with FFO gross leverage of 1.9x as
at end-2020 versus 4.5x of LSR, 3.6x of Neinor and 4.5x of Miller
Homes. Due to expected large working capital outflow Fitch expects
PIK's FFO gross leverage to temporarily exceed the negative
sensitivity of 2.0x in 2021-2022. Fitch expects this to fall below
2.0x by 2023 which would be commensurate with the 'BB' mid-point of
2.5x as per the EMEA Homebuilders Navigator and will be better than
LSR's leverage metrics.

KEY ASSUMPTIONS

Fitch's key assumptions within its rating case for the issuer
include:

-- Ongoing considerable revenue growth of about 24% yoy in 2021
    2022. Further constrained revenue growth of 9% in 2023-2024;

-- EBITDA margin of about 22%-24% over 2021-2024;

-- Further large working capital outflow of over RUB120 billion
    in 2021, which will gradually improve from 2022 due to the
    switch to escrow accounts;

-- Dividends payment of RUB30 billion per year;

-- No M&A .

RATING SENSITIVITIES

Factors that could, individually or collectively, lead to positive
rating action/upgrade:

-- Fitch-defined FFO gross leverage sustainably below 1.0x
    (netting escrow cash with relevant project development debt);

-- Sustainable improvement of financial metrics leading to EBIT
    margin above 25%.

Factors that could, individually or collectively, lead to negative
rating action/downgrade:

-- Fitch-defined FFO gross leverage sustainably above 2.0x
    (netting escrow cash with relevant project development debt);

-- Deterioration of market environment leading to a decrease of
    the EBIT margin below 15%.

BEST/WORST CASE RATING SCENARIO

International scale credit ratings of Non-Financial Corporate
issuers have a best-case rating upgrade scenario (defined as the
99th percentile of rating transitions, measured in a positive
direction) of three notches over a three-year rating horizon; and a
worst-case rating downgrade scenario (defined as the 99th
percentile of rating transitions, measured in a negative direction)
of four notches over three years. The complete span of best- and
worst-case scenario credit ratings for all rating categories ranges
from 'AAA' to 'D'. Best- and worst-case scenario credit ratings are
based on historical performance.

LIQUIDITY AND DEBT STRUCTURE

Good Liquidity: Fitch-defined readily available cash of RUB88
billion as at end-2020 sufficiently covers debt repayments of RUB34
billion within the next 12 months. Fitch expects material negative
FCF in 2021 of about RUB82 billion due to large working capital
outflow, but Fitch takes into account that the company's liquidity
is supported by off-balance sheet cash in escrow accounts, which is
used for debt repayment once the relevant project is commissioned.
As at end-June 2021, cash at escrow accounts was RUB163 billion, up
from RUB90 billion reported at end-2020.

The company is not exposed to FX risk, as all debt is raised in
Russian roubles.

ISSUER PROFILE

PJSC PIK- is the leading homebuilder in Russia, specialising in the
mass-market segment primarily in Moscow and Moscow region. The
company's construction volume is almost two times higher than its
close peer, PJSC LSR Group.

LLC PIK-Corporation is the group's sub-holding, which consolidates
all operating units of the group.

SUMMARY OF FINANCIAL ADJUSTMENTS

Fitch nets escrowed cash with relevant project development loans
drawn, given that escrowed cash is foremost dedicated to the
development loan. Fitch does not treat net excess escrowed cash as
nettable against debt elsewhere in the group. As at end-2020 Fitch
deducted RUB90,303 million from the debt.




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

CIRSA ENTERPRISES: Moody's Affirms B3 CFR & Alters Outlook to Pos.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Moody's Investors Service has affirmed Cirsa Enterprises, S.L.U.
corporate family rating at B3 and its probability of default rating
at B3-PD. Concurrently, Moody's also affirmed the instrument
ratings on the guaranteed senior secured notes ("SSNs") due 2023
and 2025 at B3 and assigned a B3 instrument rating to the new
EUR400 million SSNs due 2027, all issued by Cirsa Finance
International S.a r.l. At the same time, Moody's has changed the
outlook to positive from stable.

RATINGS RATIONALE

The change in outlook to positive reflects the company's good
liquidity management through the pandemic despite a very high level
of business disruption, the slightly better recovery in EBITDA than
previously expected in Q2, and forecast by the company in Q3
following a delay in the recovery in Q1 owing to continuing
coronavirus-related restrictions. Moody's also expects that the
company will continue to repay debt with free cash flow ("FCF"). A
continued improvement in the company's operating performance in Q4,
would be further evidence that the company's key credit metrics
will likely recovery through 2022 to levels considered more
appropriate with a B2 rating during 2022 and could lead to further
positive ratings pressure.

Operations remain negatively affected in Latin America with
operational hours still lagging Europe, which are now running at
over 90% of 2019 levels. This is mainly explained by local hourly
restrictions that Moody's expects will be gradually removed. Some
uncertainty with regards to the recovery in Latin America, despite
increased vaccinations in the region, represent a rating
constraint.

In Q2 2021, Cirsa reported EUR81 million in EBITDA, representing a
strong improvement quarter-on-quarter though it still remains 14%
below 2019 levels. Management guided for a continued recovery to
EUR98-101 million in Q3 2021 and reiterated expectations to fully
return to pre-pandemic level during the last quarter of 2021.

LIQUIDITY PROFILE

Moody's considers Cirsa's liquidity to be good and supported by
EUR262 million as of 30 June 2021, although this includes the full
drawdown on the company's EUR200 million revolving credit facility
("RCF"). Through the transaction, Cirsa has pre-funded the EUR55
million December 2021 maturity, removing the short-term refinancing
risk. The next significant maturity will be the EUR663 million SSNs
in December 2023 and Moody's would expect the company to refinance
these on a timely basis. Moody's forecasts Cirsa to generate
EUR100-150 million of free cash flow in 2022, which will support
the repayment of the majority of the drawn RCF.

The existing RCF documentation contains a springing financial
covenant based on a senior secured net leverage set at 7.52x and
tested on a quarterly basis when the RCF is drawn by more than 40%.
Moody's does not expect Cirsa to comply with this covenant before
December 2021. A breach only triggers a draw-stop event and not an
event of default.
STRUCTURAL CONSIDERATIONS

In accordance with Moody's Loss Given Default for Speculative-Grade
Companies Methodology, the PDR is B3-PD, in line with the CFR,
reflecting Moody's assumption of a 50% recovery rate as is
customary for capital structures including notes and bank debt. The
senior secured notes are rated B3 in line with the CFR due to a
limited amount of RCF, which has priority over the proceeds in an
enforcement under the Intercreditor Agreement.

RATING OUTLOOK

The positive outlook reflects Moody's view that Cirsa will return
close to pre-pandemic levels in 2022, including a Moody's-adjusted
leverage below 5.0x and Moody's-adjusted EBIT/Interest of 1.5x. The
positive outlook assumes that Cirsa will use cash generation to
reduce debt rather than engage in debt-funded acquisitions or
shareholder distributions.

FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS

Given the outlook, a rating upgrade is likely in the short-term and
could occur if Cirsa is able to show a continuing recovery in the
company's performance such that: (i) Moody's adjusted leverage
declines below 5.5x on a sustainable basis; (ii) Moody's adjusted
EBIT/interest ratio remains above 1.5x; and (iii) the company
remains to a positive free cash flow and maintains good liquidity.

At this stage, negative pressure on the rating is unlikely but
could occur if: (i) the company's operational performance
deteriorates as a result of a lower recovery than expected; (ii)
Moody's adjusted leverage remains above 7.0x in the next 12 months;
(iii) Moody's adjusted EBIT/interest ratio remains below 1.0x in
the same period of time; and (iv) free cash flow generation stays
negative and liquidity becomes weak, for example, if it looks
unlikely that the company will refinance its 2023 maturities in a
timely manner.

PRINCIPAL METHODOLOGY

The principal methodology used in these ratings was Gaming
published in June 2021.

COMPANY PROFILE

Founded in 1978 and headquartered in Terrassa (Spain), Cirsa is an
international gaming operator. The company is present in nine
countries where it has market leading positions: Spain and Italy in
Europe; Panama, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Costa Rica and Dominican
Republic in Latin America; and Morocco in Africa. In 2020, the
company reported net revenues of around EUR1 billion and adjusted
EBITDA of EUR126 million post IFRS 16 (excluding EUR403 million
adjustments related to the estimated impact of covid).


CIRSA ENTERPRISES: S&P Alters Outlook to Stable & Affirms 'B-' ICR
------------------------------------------------------------------
S&P Global Ratings revised its outlook on Spain-based gaming
company Cirsa Enterprises to stable from negative and affirmed its
'B-' long-term issuer credit rating, the 'B-' issue rating on the
senior secured debt, and the 'CCC' issue rating on the EUR400
million payment-in-kind (PIK) notes, issued by LHMC Finco 2.

At the same time, S&P assigned its 'B-' issue rating and '3'
recovery rating to Cirsa's proposed EUR400 million senior notes
issuance.

The stable outlook reflects S&P's view that Cirsa has sufficient
liquidity to absorb near-term fluctuations in performance and that
credit metrics will continue to improve over the next 12 months,
with its adjusted leverage declining toward 7x together with
meaningful FOCF generation approaching 3% of total adjusted debt by
year-end 2022.

Cirsa's operating performance is improving; however, leverage is
still expected to remain very high over 2021 and 2022. Following a
weak 2020 amid COVID-19-related restrictions, Cirsa's performance
in the first quarter of 2021 was severely affected by subsequent
waves of the pandemic, which materially impacted its operating
performance. S&P said, "Since then, we have observed an improving
trend, and Cirsa recently announced it had generated, on a reported
basis, EUR81.1 million of EBITDA in the second quarter, ended June
30, 2021 (up from EUR28.6 million in the first quarter). Overall,
we expect the positive trend to continue well into the second half
of the year, which will allow Cirsa to report significant
improvement in EBITDA and modest positive FOCF generation." The
progress of vaccination against COVID-19 over the past few months
has allowed for notable improvement in operational hours
availability, as restrictions continue to ease. The Italian
operations opened in June, after over seven months of total
closure. Currently, S&P understands Cirsa is operating at over 90%
of 2019 operational hours in Spain and Italy, and about 75% in
LatAm. However, vaccination rates in LatAm (about 50% of EBITDA)
still trail those in Europe and restrictions are still in place,
which could hinder Cirsa's ability to substantially improve its
financial performance and credit metrics over the next 12 months.
This is particularly true for the casinos division, which is
largely present in LatAm, and where customers pre-COVID typically
attended in greater numbers than they are now able to during the
restricted hours.

S&P said, "Under our base case, although we expect modest positive
FOCF generation in 2021 and a notable improvement in 2022, we still
expect leverage to remain very elevated. In our view, the
sustainability of Cirsa's capital structure relies on its ability
to deliver on its business plan, including a return to generation
of abundant FOCF and meaningful deleveraging in the short to medium
term."

Cirsa is heavily exposed to foreign exchange (FX) swings in Latin
America. Cirsa's exposure to FX risks and heightened market
volatility in LatAm is exacerbated by its lack of currency hedging.
About 30% of the group's EBITDA (per normalized 2019 levels) is
generated in local currencies, namely the Colombian, Mexican, and
Dominican pesos, which are exposed to embedded exchange rate
volatility. In Panama, where the group generates nearly 20% of its
total EBITDA, the currency is pegged to the U.S. dollar. Still, the
proposed capital structure will leave Cirsa's debt solely
denominated in euros, which could create a risk to the stability of
profitability and cash flow generation. S&P understands Cirsa will
continue to rely on the natural hedge of its balance sheet.

S&P said, "Cirsa's business model supports the recovery. Overall,
we view Cirsa's business model, alongside its leadership position
in main markets, as supportive of a faster recovery once
restrictions are fully eased and lifted. We believe regional gaming
markets, like the ones in which Cirsa operates, are better
positioned than destination markets, because the majority of its
clients are local, alleviating concerns around travel and tourism.
This is evidenced by the revenue recovery that continues to follow
the increase of operational hours. We note recovery yields (i.e.,
percent of revenue divided by percent of operational hours) are at
about 90%, both in Europe and LatAm. In addition, Cirsa enjoys
broad geographic diversification and has operations in nine
different countries, which has enabled the group to offset some
COVID-19-related losses. In addition, management implanted cost
cuts throughout 2020 and we expect about EUR55 million (about 8% of
fixed costs) to be sustained in the longer-term, which also
supports margin improvement. This is driven by personnel costs (a
15% reduction in LatAm's workforce), fixed gaming taxes
optimization, and other fixed costs, including rent renegotiations.
We expect Cirsa to continue to gradually return to pre-Covid-19
revenue and EBITDA levels toward the end of 2021, but we envisage
the company will not reach 2019 levels until the end of 2022.

"We forecast liquidity will remain adequate, which should enable
Cirsa to withstand setbacks in the ongoing recovery; but we note
its capital allocation decisions over the next 12-18 months could
affect its net leverage. The group has no significant upcoming debt
maturities in the short term, nor are there maintenance financial
covenants. The group has further proactively taken steps to enhance
its liquidity by minimizing capex and effectively managing its
gaming taxes in Spain.

"As of June 30, 2021, Cirsa reported about EUR265 million in cash
and equivalents on hand, which is higher than the level of cash it
carried on its balance sheet prior to the pandemic. We expect Cirsa
to increase its capex in 2022, and we note its net leverage could
be affected, depending on how it deploys its available cash, which
we believe it could use for acquisitions, investments, or debt
repayment contingent on its available opportunities and
management's priorities.

"We see Cirsa's financial policy as aggressive, and we think it
could challenge the sustainability of its capital structure if
recovery does not unfold according to plan. Cirsa was acquired by
private equity investor Blackstone in July 2018, following a strong
track record of historical financial growth and deleveraging. In
the second half of 2019, Cirsa used debt to acquire Giga, a Spanish
gaming and leisure operator, used cash on hand to purchase seven
casinos in Mexico, and bought the remaining 50% stake in Sportium.
In addition, LHMC Finco 2, a parent company of Cirsa outside the
restricted group, raised EUR400 million senior secured PIK notes in
2019 toward a dividend recapitalization, increasing S&P Global
ratings-adjusted leverage by over 1.0x to 5.9x from our previous
expectations of 4.8x. The PIK notes, which are otherwise
subordinated to the senior unsecured notes, mature earlier than the
new proposed EUR400 million bond. Cirsa itself does not guarantee
the notes and is not a co-issuer. Amid COVID-19 fallout and a
severe impact to operating results, the private equity owner
purchased about EUR120 million face value at a deep discount (PIK
notes were trading at around 40% of the par value during the
period). We understand that the notes have not been cancelled and
therefore Cirsa's reported debt levels remain the same. Although we
do not consider further distressed purchases in the medium to long
term likely, we view the group's financial policy as aggressive,
given the highly leveraged capital structure and the recent
dividend recapitalization through a PIK instrument. We note the
group continues to pay the interest on its PIK notes in kind; any
election to pay cash in future could place strain on consolidated
group free cash flow metrics."

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) credit factors for this
credit rating change:

-- Health and safety

S&P said, "The stable outlook reflects our view that Cirsa has
sufficient liquidity to absorb near-term fluctuations in
performance and that credit metrics will continue to improve over
the next 12 months, with S&P Global Ratings-adjusted leverage
declining toward 7x together with meaningful FOCF generation
approaching 3% of total adjusted debt by year-end 2022.

"We could lower our ratings on Cirsa if it is not able to
significantly increase its FOCF generation, fails to reduce its S&P
Global Ratings-adjusted leverage below 7x, or its liquidity
position deteriorates because of weaker-than-expected recovery.
This could be the result, for example, of a delay in the ease of
restrictions of some LatAm markets, unexpected FX fluctuations, or
a worsening of the COVID-19 situation in Europe. Under a severe
scenario of these characteristics, the company could struggle to
service or refinance its debt maturities. We could also lower our
ratings if the company's financial sponsor increased its business
or financial policy risk tolerance.

"It is unlikely that we would upgrade Cirsa in the short term,
given our expectations that it will sustain leverage of well above
7x over the next 12 months. However, we could consider raising our
ratings if the company demonstrates its ability to generate
meaningful positive FOCF such that its S&P Global Ratings-adjusted
leverage sustainably declines below 5x."




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

CANTERBURY FINANCE 1: Moody's Hikes Class X Notes Rating to Caa1
----------------------------------------------------------------
Moody's Investors Service has upgraded the ratings of nine notes in
Canterbury Finance No. 1 PLC and Canterbury Finance No. 2 PLC
transactions. The rating action reflects better than expected
collateral performance and the increased levels of credit
enhancement for the affected notes.

Moody's affirmed the ratings of the notes that had sufficient
credit enhancement to maintain the current rating.

Issuer: CANTERBURY FINANCE NO. 1 PLC

GBP222.53M Class A2 Notes, Affirmed Aaa (sf); previously on Jul
12, 2019 Definitive Rating Assigned Aaa (sf)

GBP22.5M Class B Notes, Upgraded to Aaa (sf); previously on Jul
12, 2019 Definitive Rating Assigned Aa1 (sf)

GBP22.5M Class C Notes, Upgraded to Aa1 (sf); previously on Jul
12, 2019 Definitive Rating Assigned A1 (sf)

GBP12.5M Class D Notes, Upgraded to A3 (sf); previously on Jul 12,
2019 Definitive Rating Assigned Baa3 (sf)

GBP12.5M Class E Notes, Upgraded to Ba2 (sf); previously on Jul
12, 2019 Definitive Rating Assigned B2 (sf)

GBP15M Class X Notes, Upgraded to Caa1 (sf); previously on Jul 12,
2019 Definitive Rating Assigned Ca (sf)

Issuer: Canterbury Finance No. 2 PLC

GBP414.64M Class A1 Notes, Affirmed Aaa (sf); previously on Mar
27, 2020 Assigned Aaa (sf)

GBP445.73M Class A2 Notes, Affirmed Aaa (sf); previously on Mar
27, 2020 Assigned Aaa (sf)

GBP51.83M Class B Notes, Upgraded to Aaa (sf); previously on Mar
27, 2020 Assigned Aa1 (sf)

GBP51.83M Class C Notes, Upgraded to Aa2 (sf); previously on Mar
27, 2020 Assigned Aa3 (sf)

GBP25.91M Class D Notes, Upgraded to A3 (sf); previously on Mar
27, 2020 Assigned Baa1 (sf)

GBP25.91M Class E Notes, Affirmed Baa3 (sf); previously on Mar 27,
2020 Assigned Baa3 (sf)

GBP20.74M Class F Notes, Upgraded to B2 (sf); previously on Mar
27, 2020 Assigned B3 (sf)

RATINGS RATIONALE

The rating action is prompted by better than expected collateral
performance and the increased levels of credit enhancement for the
affected notes.

Revision of Key Collateral Assumptions:

As part of the rating action, Moody's reassessed its lifetime loss
expectation for the portfolio reflecting the collateral performance
to date and the performance of similar pools in the UK.

The performance of both transactions has been better than initially
expected at closing. 90 days plus arrears as a percentage of
current balance are currently standing at 1.35% for Canterbury
Finance No. 1 PLC and 0.60% for Canterbury Finance No. 2 PLC, with
pool factor at 58.8% and 83.7% respectively. Both transactions have
no losses since closing. In addition Moody's considered the
performance of more seasoned transactions with similar collateral
characteristics in the UK during its review.

Moody's assumed the expected loss as a percentage of current pool
balance of 1.6% for both Canterbury Finance No. 1 PLC and
Canterbury Finance No. 2 PLC, due to the better than expected
collateral performance and benchmarking against similar pools. This
corresponds to expected loss assumption as a percentage of the
original pool balance of 0.95% for Canterbury Finance No. 1 PLC and
1.34% for Canterbury Finance No. 2 PLC.

Moody's has also assessed loan-by-loan information as a part of its
detailed transaction review to determine the credit support
consistent with target rating levels and the volatility of future
losses. As a result, Moody's has maintained the MILAN CE at 13% for
Canterbury Finance No. 1 PLC and at 14% for Canterbury Finance No.
2 PLC.

Increase in Available Credit Enhancement

Sequential amortization and non-amortizing reserve funds led to the
increase in the credit enhancement available in this transaction.

For Canterbury Finance No. 1 PLC, the credit enhancement for the
most senior tranche affected by the rating action, class B notes,
increased to 21.3% from 12.5% since closing.

For Canterbury Finance No. 2 PLC, the credit enhancement for the
most senior tranche affected by the rating action, class B notes,
increased to 16.2% from 13.5% since closing.

The principal methodology used in these ratings was "Moody's
Approach to Rating RMBS Using the MILAN Framework" published in
December 2020.

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 or circumstances that could lead to an upgrade of the
ratings include: (i) performance of the underlying collateral that
is better than Moody's expected; (ii) an increase in available
credit enhancement; (iii) improvements in the credit quality of the
transaction counterparties; and (iv) a decrease in sovereign risk.

Factors or circumstances that could lead to a downgrade of the
ratings include: (i) an increase in sovereign risk; (ii)
performance of the underlying collateral that is worse than Moody's
expected; (iii) deterioration in the notes' available credit
enhancement; and (iv) deterioration in the credit quality of the
transaction counterparties.


FERGUSON MARINE: Loses Bid to Build New CalMac Ferries
------------------------------------------------------
Calum Watson at BBC News reports that the nationalized Ferguson
shipyard has missed out on an order to build two new CalMac
ferries.

The Inverclyde yard was among 11 bidders for the order to replace
ships on the Islay route, but failed to make the shortlist, BBC
notes.

According to BBC, the four shipyards which will now submit detailed
tenders are based in Poland, Romania and Turkey.

Ferguson Marine said it was "disappointed" but would learn lessons
as it looks for future work, BBC relates.

The new ships will be the first major order by CMAL, which procures
vessels for CalMac, since Glen Sannox and an as-yet unnamed ship,
known as Hull 802, which are still under construction at the
Ferguson shipyard.

Glen Sannox is currently due to be delivered in the second half of
next year, more than four years late, with the two ships costing
the taxpayer more than double the original contract price, BBC
discloses.

Problems with the order dragged the yard back into administration
in 2019 and since then it has been wholly-owned by the Scottish
government, which also owns CMAL and CalMac, BBC states.

The four shortlisted shipyards which will now submit more detailed
bids are Damen Shipyard in Romania, Remontowa Shipbuilding in
Poland, and Turkish shipyards Sefine Denizcilik Tersanecilik
Turizm, and Cemre Marin Endustri, according to BBC.

Ferguson Marine, as cited by BBC, said it had put forward a "robust
bid" for the new order but it respected CMAL's decision.

The Port Glasgow shipyard has been extensively modernized since it
first went into administration in 2014 and was taken over by
businessman Jim McColl, BBC recounts.  Its workforce has risen to
more than 450, BBC discloses.

Mr. McColl and CMAL have blamed each other for problems with the
previous ferry order which led to the yard going into
administration again five years later, according to BBC.

The "turnaround director" appointed by the Scottish government, Tim
Hair, recently told BBC that investment was continuing at Ferguson
Marine and he was confident the yard would be competitive by the
time it wins its next major order.


GLENBURN HOTEL: Administrator Puts Property Up for Sale
-------------------------------------------------------
John Glover at Insider.co.uk reports that the administrator of the
Glenburn Hotel on the Isle of Bute has marketed the property for
offers over GBP1.1 million.

It fell into administration last month after struggling to meet
operating costs after dramatic falls in revenue due to the
pandemic, Insider.co.uk recounts.

The hotel had traded briefly since the start of the first lockdown
in early 2020, but has been closed since November 2020 with staff
initially being placed on furlough, Insider.co.uk notes.

Stuart Robb, partner with FRP Advisory and joint administrator of
hotel, said that there has already been strong interest, with
enquiries being received from across the UK and internationally,
Insider.co.uk relates.


LONDON CAPITAL: FCA Defends Hiring of Transformation Director
-------------------------------------------------------------
Berengere Sim at Financial News reports that the Financial Conduct
Authority defended its hiring process and the appointment of Megan
Butler as director for transformation last year, a decision
questioned by the Treasury Committee in light of the collapse of
mini-bond firm London Capital & Finance.

"I wanted to get things moving quickly and in order to do that, we
chose to recruit an executive director for transformation from
within the current executive team," Financial News quotes Nikhil
Rathi, chief executive of the watchdog, as saying in an August 25
letter to the Treasury Committee.  The letter was made public by
the committee, a group of MPs tasked with holding the City to
account, on Sept. 13, Financial News notes.

"This ensured stability and continuity during a period of
considerable challenge (with successive lockdowns, end of the
Brexit transition period and wider leadership change at the FCA)
and allowed us to proceed with the wider restructuring of the FCA
and launch campaigns for a range of other roles in parallel."

LCF went into administration in January 2019 after the FCA asked it
to withdraw its "misleading, not fair and unclear" promotion for
its retail investment products, Financial News recounts.
Mini-bonds are not normally regulated by the FCA, Financial News
states.  Some 11,600 retail investors lost out after the firm
collapsed, totalling more than GBP237 million, Financial News
discloses.  Since then, the promotion of mini-bonds has been banned
by the FCA, Financial News relays.

At the time of its collapse, Ms. Butler was the head of supervision
at the regulator, Financial News states.  A report into the LCF
fallout by former judge Dame Elizabeth Gloster had singled out
Butler as a key figure in the watchdog's oversight before it
collapsed, according to Financial News.

In the committee's report looking into the FCA's regulation of LCF,
published on June 24, the MPs, as cited by Financial News, said:
"We believe that the FCA was wrong not to have engaged in a fuller
recruitment program for the executive director for transformation
role, including the consideration of potential recruits from
outside the FCA."

"It appears that there was a missed opportunity to consider fresh
leadership for the transformation program," the report added.

Mr. Butler, alongside other senior FCA executives who have appeared
before the committee, apologized to affected bondholders, Financial
News relates.  At the session during which she gave evidence, she
said: "I do take full responsibility for the model of supervision,
I take responsibility for the actions that happened within my areas
relating to it".

"I am so sorry that the [supervisory] changes we were putting in
place didn't come quickly enough to change the outcomes for LCF
holders but the organization we have now is not that organization
we had in 2015, 2016 or even 2018," she added.

The committee's report also called for the inclusion of fraudulent
advertisements within the scope of the Online Safety Bill,
according to Financial News.


PAYSAFE LTD: S&P Affirms 'B+' LongTerm ICR, Outlook Stable
----------------------------------------------------------
S&P Global Ratings affirmed its 'B+' long-term issuer credit rating
on global provider of payment solutions and e-wallets Paysafe Ltd.
(Paysafe). S&P also affirmed its 'B+' issue rating on Paysafe's
first-lien debt facilities, including an expected increase in its
term loan B, with a recovery rating of '3' (50%-70%; rounded
estimate: 60%).

S&P said, "The stable outlook reflects our expectation of solid
growth in volumes in 2021 and 2022 that should enable Paysafe to
achieve organic revenue growth of 10%-12%, supporting its reduction
in debt to EBITDA to well below our 5.5x downside trigger by 2022,
with free operating cash flow (FOCF) to debt of 8%-10%.

"Recent debt-funded acquisitions will lead to a peak in adjusted
debt to EBITDA, but we expect a significant improvement in credit
metrics in 2022. Paysafe will finance the acquisitions of
Safetypay, viaFintech, and PagoEfectivo with first-lien term loans
of about $712 million. As a result, we expect Paysafe's adjusted
debt to EBITDA--pro forma the acquisitions--to increase to about
6.6x in 2021, assuming restructuring and merger and acquisition
(M&A) costs of approximately $20 million-$25 million. We expect the
company to reduce its adjusted debt to EBITDA to just below 5x in
2022, assuming no additional material debt-funded acquisitions. The
expected material reduction in adjusted leverage reflects a
combination of very solid growth in adjusted EBITDA of about
22%-25% and expected FOCF generation of about $250 million.
Paysafe's solid free cash flow metrics, with FOCF to debt expected
to remain higher than 5% in 2021, will further support the
company's adjusted debt to EBITDA ratio, since we treat any cash
above $200 million as excess cash available for debt reduction.

"We expect Paysafe will adopt a less aggressive financial policy
going forward because private equity firms no longer control the
company and it remains committed to achieving its publicly stated
leverage target. Private equity firms CVC and Blackstone have
reduced their ownership stakes in Paysafe below 40%, and do not
represent a majority of the Paysafe board, which predominantly
comprises independent directors. This means that although we still
think Paysafe will continue to seek M&A opportunities, it will not
have a sponsor-like financial policy, and hence will also
prioritize debt reduction and potentially use equity alongside debt
funding. We understand that Paysafe remains committed to achieving
its long-term net debt to EBITDA target of 3.5x (about 4.5x on an
adjusted basis), which the company set after its listing. As a
result, we understand dividends are unlikely over the medium term
and that Paysafe intends to use its excess cash for debt
reduction.

"The acquisitions are in line with Paysafe's long-term strategy but
they do not materially change our view of the business. The
addition of SafetyPay and PagoEfectivo increases Paysafe's exposure
to the rapidly expanding Latin American markets, presenting the
company with good growth prospects, some geographic
diversification, and cost synergy opportunities. Nevertheless,
these assets will only have a minor contribution to Paysafe's
revenue and EBITDA and they will initially drag on its cash flows
after debt service. In addition, these companies focus on verticals
in which Paysafe is already active, such as gaming and travel, and
therefore they do not materially change Paysafe's merchant risk
profile or chargeback exposure.

"Paysafe's performance remained resilient to the COVID-19 pandemic
through the first half of 2021, and good growth prospects lead us
to anticipate a further strong recovery in 2022. Paysafe recorded
total revenue growth of about 13% (16% excluding the effect of the
business divesture of PayLater in October 2020). We revised upward
our topline growth forecast for 2021 to 12%-14% and 10%-12% in
2022, supported by strong volume growth in the merchant acquiring
segment (50% of revenue), which we expect to slightly exceed
pre-pandemic growth. This revision also reflects the addition of
the acquired assets. We continue to anticipate strong momentum in
the e-cash division (23% of Paysafe's total revenue) on the back of
solid growth in online payments amid the pandemic and general
digitalization trends.

"The stable outlook reflects our expectation of solid growth in
volumes in 2021 and 2022 that should enable Paysafe to achieve
organic revenue growth of 10%-12%, supporting its reduction in
leverage to well below our downside trigger of 5.5x by 2022, with
FOCF to debt of 8%-10%.

"We could lower the rating if Paysafe's adjusted leverage remains
higher than 5.5x, or its FOCF to debt falls below 5% on a
sustainable basis. This could happen if Paysafe pursues further
significant debt-funded acquisitions, or if high chargeback losses
weigh on its profitability.

"Although we do not expect an upgrade over the next 12 months, we
could raise the rating by one notch if Paysafe reduces its adjusted
debt to EBITDA sustainably below 4.5x and improves its FOCF to debt
to more than 10% on a sustainable basis. This could happen if
Paysafe sustains high organic revenue growth of more than 10%, and
if operational improvements lead to the adjusted margin increasing
above 30%."


TULLOW OIL: Finance Director Steps Down Following Refinancing
-------------------------------------------------------------
Nathalie Thomas at The Financial Times reports that Tullow Oil's
finance director is to depart after securing the company's future
via a critical US$1.8 billion bond offering in May.

According to the FT, the Africa-focused explorer and producer said
on Sept. 15 that Les Wood, who has been chief financial officer
since 2017, had "mutually agreed" with its board to step down at
the end of March next year.

The refinancing placed Tullow, which had previously warned of a
"significant risk" of insolvency had it not secured the funds, back
on an even keel after several rocky years, the FT states.

In December 2019, it slashed its production forecasts, embarked on
a swingeing cost-cutting and disposals programme and said that its
then chief executive Paul McDade and its head of exploration had
both left, the FT recounts.

Tullow announced Mr. Wood's departure as it posted half-year
results on Sept. 15, which showed it returned to profit in the
first six months of the year, the FT relates.

The company, whose new chief executive Rahul Dhir has been
refocusing on its core assets in West Africa, posted a US$213
million pre-tax profit, up from a US$1.4 billion loss at the same
point in 2020 despite a slight dip in revenues to US$727 million,
from US$731 million a year earlier, the FT discloses.

Mr. Wood, as cited by the FT, said it was the "right time for me to
leave Tullow after five years as CFO" and after "our comprehensive
refinancing earlier this year".

Mr. Dhir, who was appointed last year to revive Tullow's fortunes,
said Mr. Wood had been "integral to the group's financial
turnround", the FT notes.

Tullow Oil is an independent oil exploration and production company
founded in Tullow, Ireland with its headquarters in London, United
Kingdom.  It is focused on finding and monetizing oil in Africa and
South America.



                           *********


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-
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Marites O. Claro, Rousel Elaine T. Fernandez, Joy A. Agravante,
Julie Anne L. Toledo, Ivy B. Magdadaro, and Peter A. Chapman,
Editors.

Copyright 2021.  All rights reserved.  ISSN 1529-2754.

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