Claire s Stores bank loan rating raised to B+ ; recovery rating to 2

MUMBAI, Oct. 25, 2007 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) — Standard Poor’s (NYSE:MHP) Ratings Services said it has upgraded its bank loan and recovery rating on Claire’s Stores Inc’s 1.65 bln usd senior secured credit facilities to ‘B+’ from ‘B’ and the recovery rating to ‘2′ from ‘3′, reflecting the final structure which resulted in a higher enterprise value.

The ratings agency said the ‘2′ recovery rating indicates that lenders can expect 70-90 pct recovery in the event of a payment default. S P said the facilities include a 200 mln usd revolving credit facility maturing in 2013 and a 1.45 bln usd term loan B maturing in 2014. Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

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