S&P Raises Verint Systems (VRNT) to 'BB'; Notes Reduced Debt, Leverage

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services raised is corporate credit rating on Melville, N.Y.-based Verint Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: VRNT) to 'BB' from 'BB-'. The outlook is stable. We also raised the rating on the company's term loan and revolver to 'BBB-' from 'BB-', and revising the recovery rating to '1' (indicating our expectation of very high [90-100%] recovery in the event of a payment default) from '3'. We have removed these ratings from CreditWatch, where we placed them with positive implications on June 11, 2014.

At the same time, we assigned a 'B+' rating with a recovery rating of '6' to the company's newly issued convertible senior notes. The '6' recovery rating indicates our expectation of a negligible (0-10%) recovery in the event of payment default.

"The upgrade reflects the reduced debt and leverage following the equity sale and application of the proceeds to debt repayment," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Jacob Schlanger.

The stable outlook reflects Standard & Poor's expectation that the company will continue to reduce debt modestly over the coming year, with no further significant acquisitions and successfully integration of the recent ones.

Verint operates in the competitive security and business intelligence industry, making software available to vendors ranging from large diversified companies to small private-point solution vendors.

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