Apollo’s Fresh Market Debt Upgraded on Sales That Defy Pandemic

A jump in sales amid pandemic lockdowns earned The Fresh Market Inc. a credit upgrade from S&P Global Ratings, which said prospects for a default may have eased.

After the coronavirus outbreak set off panic buying and increased demand for organic food, the grocer’s first-quarter sales shot up 12%from a year earlier. That helped earn Fresh Market a CCC+ rating, up from CCC, S&P said in a Thursday report.

Rising prices for the company’s debt and a refinancing of its super-priority notes have made a distressed-debt deal or default over the next year less likely, S&P said. Shuttered ...