DBRS Withdraws Provisional Rating on New Corus Entertainment Inc. Notes

DBRS Limited (DBRS) has today discontinued the previously assigned provisional rating of B (high) with a recovery rating of RR6 on Corus Entertainment Inc.’s (Corus or the Company) Senior Unsecured Notes (the Notes). The rating is being discontinued and withdrawn at the request of the Company, following its decision not to issue the Notes at this time as part of the financing of its acquisition of Shaw Media Inc. (Shaw Media) from Shaw Communications Inc. (Shaw) for $2.65 billion (the Transaction).

This action does not affect Corus’s Issuer Rating of BB and the existing Senior Unsecured Notes (the existing Notes) rating of BB with a recovery rating of RR4; all trends are Stable. The ratings are supported by Corus’s established Canadian market positions in television and radio broadcasting as well as strong cash generation while also reflecting an increasingly competitive environment, pending regulatory changes and the cyclicality of advertising and merchandising revenue.

DBRS notes that, on March 9, 2015, Corus received minority shareholder approval to proceed with the acquisition of Shaw Media once necessary regulatory approvals have been obtained. The Company has sufficient financing in place to complete the Transaction, including committed bank term and bridge financing. DBRS expects total leverage to be consistent with levels previously contemplated. Corus expects to complete the Shaw Media acquisition in Q3 F2016.

For more information regarding DBRS’s views on Corus’s acquisition of Shaw Media, please refer to the press release published on February 10, 2016.

Notes:
All figures are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.

The related regulatory disclosures pursuant to the National Instrument 25-101 Designated Rating Organizations are hereby incorporated by reference and can be found by clicking on the link to the right under Related Research or by contacting us at info@dbrs.com.

This rating is endorsed by DBRS Ratings Limited for use in the European Union.

The applicable methodologies are Rating Companies in the Television Broadcasting Industry, Rating Companies in the Radio Broadcasting Industry and DBRS Recovery Ratings for Non-Investment Grade Corporate Issuers, which can be found on our website under Methodologies.

For more information on this credit or on this industry, visit www.dbrs.com or contact us at info@dbrs.com.