Rating Action:
Moody's downgrades Camposol's ratings to Caa2; outlook Stable
Global Credit Research - 06 Jun 2016
New York, June 06, 2016 --
Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") has downgraded Camposol Holding Plc. ('Camposol')'s corporate family rating to Caa2. At the same time, Moody's downgraded Camposol's new 10.5% Senior Secured notes due 2021 and senior unsecured notes due 2017 to Caa2. The outlook for the ratings is stable.
The ratings are as follows:
Issuer: Camposol Holding Plc.
- Corporate Family Rating: Caa2 (global scale)
Issuer: Camposol S.A.
- Senior Unsecured Notes due 2017: Caa2 (foreign currency)
- 10.5% Senior Secured Notes due 2021: Caa2 (foreign currency)
Outlook: Stable
RATINGS RATIONALE
The rating downgrade to Caa2 reflects Camposol's tight liquidity profile even following the exchange offering concluded in May 27th, 2016. Camposol exchanged 73.75% of its 9.875% USD 200 million notes due 2017 for new 10.5% USD 200 senior notes due 2021, representing USD 147.5 million. A total of USD 52.5 million principal amount of existing notes was not tendered in the exchange offer. The 73.75% acceptance was below the 95% originally expected by the company.
In Moody's opinion, the debt exchange constitutes a distressed exchange, which is considered a default under Moody's definition of default. A distressed exchange occurs when an issuer offers creditors new or restructured debt, or a new package of securities, cash or assets, that amount to a diminished financial obligation relative to the original obligation with the effect of the transaction being the avoidance of an eventual payment default on the debt.
Despite the improvements in debt profile, the Caa2 ratings reflect Camposol's small operating scale, weak credit metrics, tight liquidity, and limited historical track record in its current business model. The company´s cash position of USD 27 million at the end of 2015 compares with USD 36 million in short term debt and maturities of USD 50 million in 2017 following the exchange offer, while it still faces a challenging operating environment. Over time, we expect Camposol to continue its diversification strategy by increasing the production in the blueberries and seafood segments, as well the reinforcement of its direct sales to retailers, which could lead to higher operating margins.
Camposol's Caa2 ratings are supported by the company's position as the largest fully integrated agribusiness corporation in Peru, including production, packaging and distribution of agricultural products. The rating reflects Camposol's large holdings of arable land as well as its diversified product mix comprised of a varied range of fruits and vegetables which allows the company to drive growth through expansion and product mix shifts without substantial additional capital expenditures needs.
The stable ratings outlook is based on Moody's expectation that Camposol will improve operating margins over the intermediate to long term, especially in the growing blueberries segment.
An upgrade of the ratings would require improvements in Camposol´s liquidity, operating performance and metrics. Quantitatively, upward momentum could result if Camposol's total adjusted debt to EBITDA is sustained below 6 times on a 3-year average basis and retained cash flow to adjusted net debt is sustained above 15% on a 3-year average basis.
A downgrade of the ratings would result from further deterioration in the company's credit metrics and liquidity. Quantitatively, a downgrade could be caused if adjusted debt/EBITDA remains above 15.0x or EBITDA to interest expense continues below 1.0 time for an extended period of time.
Camposol is a private company headquartered in Peru. The company plants, harvests, processes and exports avocadoes, blueberries, mangoes, table grapes and shrimp for the last twelve months ended December 2015, the company reported total revenues of USD 273 million.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Global Protein and Agriculture Industry published in May 2013. Please see the Ratings Methodologies page on
www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.
Almeno l'outlook è stabile