Kerling, società che incorpora il business norvegese nella chimica plastica che Ineos aveva rilevato alcuni anni fa da Norsk Hydro ed alla quale è stata ceduta Ineos CloroVinys in una operazione che tende a raccogliere alcuni cespiti ancora profittevoli del business di Ineos, è fatta oggetto di un modesto upgrade da parte di S&P, che ne porta il rating da CCC+ a B- in funzione del successo nell'emissione del bond, il 10,625% Kerling 2017, che dilaziona nel tempo le scadenze debitorie e consente di disporre di un certo ammontare di liquidità.
Tuttavia, avvisa S&P, se Ineos dovesse defaultare in tempi abbastanza brevi, la cessione di CloroVinyls a Kerling potrebbe andare soggetta a revocatoria in seno ad una procedura fallimentare, ciò che creerebbe incertezze sul merito di credito della stessa Kerling.
Tale società è inoltre dipendente da Ineos per molti dei suoi contratti di approvvigionamento delle materie di lavorazione, ragion per cui anche sotto questo aspetto un default di Ineos inciderebbe.
U.K. Chemical Producer Kerling Raised To B-'; Outlook Stable; Senior Notes Final 'B-' Rating In Line With Prelim Rating
·Kerling PLC, which produces PVC and other chemicals, has successfully completed its bond issue, with terms and conditions broadly in line with our assumptions.
·The group's liquidity position has consequently improved.
·We are raising the long-term corporate credit rating to 'B-' from 'CCC', and assigning final 'B-' ratings to the €785 million bond and 'B+' to the €100 million revolver, in line with preliminary ratings.
·The stable outlook factors in our expectations of continued resilience in near-term profitability, together with the flexibility provided by the long-term debt maturity profile.
PARIS (Standard & Poor's) Feb. 8, 2010--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it has raised to 'B-' from 'CCC' its long-term corporate credit rating on U.K.-based PVC producer Kerling PLC. At the same time, we removed the ratings from CreditWatch developing, where they had been placed on Jan. 15, 2010. The outlook is stable.
At the same time, we assigned the following final debt ratings:·'B+' to the €100 million senior secured revolving credit facility. The recovery rating on this instrument is '1', reflecting Standard & Poor's expectation of very high (90%-100%) recovery in the event of a payment default.·'B-' to the 10.625% €785 million senior secured notes due 2017, with a recovery rating of '3' reflecting our expectation of meaningful recovery in the event of a payment default--i.e. at the low end of the 50%-70% range.
The removal from CreditWatch and assignment of final ratings reflects the successful bond offer, completed broadly in line with our assumptions. The rating on Kerling reflects a "fair" business risk profile and a "highly leveraged" financial risk profile.
In our opinion, the main rating driver relates to Kerling's links with Ineos Group Holdings PLC (Ineos, CCC+/Negative/--), a sister company which may face debt restructuring in 2010 or 2011.
"Although Kerling's debts include various restrictive covenants which aim to mitigate such risks, operational links with Ineos remain an important risk factor in our view," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Lucas Sevenin. For example, in the event of a default by Ineos Group, the sale of Ineos ChlorVinyls to Kerling could be subject to legal challenge, despite a fairness opinion on the valuation.
"The stable outlook reflects our expectation of some resilience in Kerling's operating profits in 2009 and 2010," said Mr. Sevenin. Kerling's ratings are not automatically tied to those of sister company Ineos, but we would probably revise the outlook on Kerling to negative in case of debt restructuring or default at Ineos, to reflect the heightened uncertainty.
A downward rating action could occur if Ineos were to default, and as a result, working capital or operational impacts (including on some ethylene supplies or intragroup sales) were more negative than anticipated for Kerling. Upward rating movement is unlikely in the near term and would most likely depend on improvement in credit quality at Ineos. Material deleveraging at [FONT="]Kerling could ultimately also result in an upgrade.[/FONT]