Moody's on Aug. 6 upgraded AssetMark Financial Holdings Inc.'s corporate family rating to Ba2 from B1, with a stable outlook.

The rating agency said the asset manager's credit profile has improved following its IPO and the prepayment of $125 million out of its $250 million senior secured term loan. The loan repayment improved AssetMark's adjusted pro forma debt leverage to around 1.6x, compared with the year-end 2018 figure of 3.0x.

Moody's also said the likelihood that parent company Huatai Securities Co. Ltd. will support AssetMark has increased following the IPO and its higher profile within the U.S. financial services sector. The increase resulted in the addition of a one-notch parental support uplift to AssetMark's ratings.