Replies to post #6243 on The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

The S&P credit report on CLF is fair and doesn’t say anything we didn’t already know—i.e. the outlook depends greatly on the spot price of seaborne iron ore. If S&P’s “baseline” projection of $120 per metric ton hold true, CLF won’t have a liquidity problem and will be able to maintain the dividend.

S&P’s description of CLF’s business is almost exactly as described in #msg-82003093 except that S&P doesn’t (and can’t as a matter of policy) consider the buyout vig.

[DewDiligence]

Cliffs' nearest maturity is 2013, when its $270 million of private placement notes mature. We expect that Cliffs will address the maturity in a timely manner.

They just did, raising $500M of 5-year bonds @3.95%:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cliffs-natural-resources-inc-announces-194600740.html

This takes care of not only CLF’s 2013 maturities, but also the ones in 2015.