Moody's raised its corporate family rating on toBa3 from B1 following the company's saleof most of its real estate assets to Gamingand Leisure Properties Inc.
Additionally, the rating agency upgraded Pinnacle'sprobability of default rating to Ba3-PD from B1-PD, and affirmed the Ba2 ratingon the company's credit facilities and B2 rating on its senior unsecured notes.Moody's also assigned an SGL-2 speculative grade liquidity rating to thecompany.
The outlook is stable.
Moody's said that the Ba3 corporate family rating reflectsPinnacle's diversification in terms of geography and large size with regard torevenue.
The stable outlook is supported by Moody's expectation thatthe company will be successful in trimming and maintaining debt/EBITDA closerto 6.0x by 2016-end.
Moody's added that it expects Pinnacle to be cash flowpositive over the next 12-18-month period, which reflects its SGL-2 speculativegrade liquidity rating.