S&P cuts CI Financial to junk

CI Financial Corp. was cut to junk by S&P Global Ratings before the credit firm withdrew its ratings at the asset manager’s request.

The downgrade to junk reflected S&P’s expectation that CI Financial will operate with debt of 4 to 5 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization over the next year, S&P said in a statement late Monday in New York. A CI spokesman didn’t immediately reply to messages seeking comment Tuesday.

S&P lowered its issuer credit and senior unsecured debt ratings to BB+ from BBB- “following CI Financial Corp.’s request to withdraw our ratings,” according to the statement. The agency then dropped coverage.

CI’s borrowing, which mounted as it went on an acquisition spree of U.S. registered investment advisory firms, has become a concern for analysts and investors. The Toronto-based asset manager had about $3 billion of net debt outstanding at year-end.

The firm has begun the process of taking public its U.S. wealth-management unit, a key step in CI’s plan to raise money, reduce debt and separate its Canadian and U.S. businesses. The firm hadn’t decided how many shares to sell or at what price as of its most recent conference call with investors in February.

CI still has investment-grade ratings from Moody’s Investors Service and DBRS Morningstar. The firm had $287.5 billion of client assets under management as of March.

Shares of CI have dropped 21% in the past year through Monday, the fifth-worst performance in the 29-company S&P/TSX Financials Index.