The Irish Independent reports that Riverdeep has managed to refinance almost half of a $1.07 billion bridging facility taken out following the company’s $3.5 billion reverse takeover of US educational publisher Houghton Mifflin last year. The paper says initial plans to refinance $250m – or a quarter – of the facility were put on ice earlier this year following the resignation of the company’s auditor, Ernst & Young. “The refinancing will shave $10m a year from the company’s interest bill,” the paper quotes a spokeswoman for the company as saying. But, the refinancing has prompted Moody’s to downgrade its senior secured ratings for Riverdeep’s debt down one level to B1.