NEW YORK, NY - Moody’s Investors has given The Fresh Market its first-ever rating, granting the retailer a B2 Corporate Family Rating and B2-PD probability of default rating.

“In addition to the volatility in financial policies inherent with ownership by a financial sponsor, our ratings also reflect the execution risks associated with new management's turnaround plan which will be challenging to implement in a very competitive business environment,” Moody’s stated in a press release in regards to its rating system.

In addition to its new rating, The Fresh Market has also been given borrowings to help finance its recently announced acquisition by Apollo Global Management, LLC, as well as general corporate purposes.

For this, Moody’s has assigned the company a Ba2 rating (Moody’s scale ranges from Aaa to C) to the retailer's proposed $100 million revolving credit, and its $800 million senior secured notes has received a B2 rating.

A number of ratings were assigned as part of the Fresh Market’s first-time addition to Moody’s listing, including:

• Corporate Family Rating at B2
• Probability of default rating at B2-PD
• Proposed $100 million senior secured revolving credit facility maturing 2021 at Ba2(LGD1)
• Proposed $800 million senior secured notes maturing 2023 at B2(LGD4)

Despite currently being under investigation and in the midst of a lawsuit with shareholders for allegedly entering an acquisition agreement that “undervalues” The Fresh Market, the retailer’s stock was up .07% as of yesterday’s close at 4:35 p.m. EDT.

Moody’s added that the rating outlook is stable, and that it reflects high leverage for the company on a relatively small scale.

This rating can be upgraded based on the improvement of The Fresh Market’s operating performance, so stay tuned as we continue to follow this and other retailers throughout 2016 and beyond.

The Fresh Market