DBRS Downgrades Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation

DBRS has today downgraded Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation (Smurfit-Stone or the Company) to D following the Company’s announcement that it and its U.S. and Canadian subsidiaries have filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. The Canadian subsidiaries will also file to reorganize under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Canada. The Company plans to use this process to restructure its debt, resulting in a capital structure more suited to support its long-term growth and profitability. DBRS has also removed the Company from Under Review with Negative Implications, where it was placed on January 16, 2009.

Notes:
All figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.

The applicable methodology is Rating the Forest Products Industry, which can be found on our website under Methodologies.

This is a Corporate rating.

This rating is based on public information.