Imark
Forumer storico
In miglioramento il rating S&P, di due livelli, in quanto, per effetto congiunto dell'aumento di capitale (2,2 mld euro) e dei bond emessi (2,5 mld euro) il fardello delle scadenze bancarie da rifinanziare entro il 2011 si riduce sensibilmente...
Outlook positivo, ci sono possibilità che riescano a migliorare leggermente il merito di credito nel corso del 2009 e nel 2010 e poi, se le cose andassero per il verso giusto, a progredire più decisamente nel 2011.
La famiglia Merckle, per effetto dell'aumento di capitale, scende ad un 24% dell'azionariato, mentre il resto è costituito da flottante.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Germany-Based HeidelbergCement Upgraded To 'B+' On Capital Increase And New Bonds; Off CreditWatch; Outlook Positive[/FONT]
-- German heavy building materials group HeidelbergCement has successfully raised new bonds for a combined €2.5 billion.
-- The group recently completed a €2.2 billion capital increase, thereby reducing the Merckle family's stake to a quarter of its capital.
-- These actions have together reduced the group's 2011 refinancing burden significantly.
-- We are raising the long-term corporate credit rating to 'B+' from 'B-'.
-- The positive outlook reflects our view of potential further rating upside should the group's credit metrics recover from an anticipated trough this year.
PARIS (Standard & Poor's) Oct. 15, 2009--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it raised its long-term corporate credit rating on German heavy building materials manufacturer HeidelbergCement AG to 'B+' from 'B-' and removed the rating from CreditWatch, where it was placed with positive implications on Sept. 14, 2009. At the same time, the 'B' short-term rating on HeidelbergCement was affirmed. The outlook is positive.
In addition, we raised the issue ratings on the senior unsecured bonds issued by group subsidiaries HeidelbergCement Finance B.V., Hanson Ltd., and Hanson Australia Funding Ltd. to 'B+' from 'CCC+' and removed these ratings from CreditWatch. We also raised the recovery rating on these debt instruments to '3' from '5', indicating our expectation of meaningful (50%-70%) recovery in the event of a payment default.
Furthermore, we assigned an issue rating of 'B+', together with a recovery rating of '3', to HeidelbergCement AG's proposed senior unsecured bonds for €1.0 billion (five-year tenor), €1.0 billion (seven-year tenor), and €0.5 billion (10-year tenor).
These actions follow the recent completion of a capital increase, which has generated €2.2 billion of cash proceeds for HeidelbergCement, as well as the recent issue of €2.5 billion of new bonds aimed at refinancing part of the group's senior bank facilities put in place in June 2009 and due in December 2011.
"We believe that the combined proceeds should substantially improve HeidelbergCement's liquidity through the reduction of the concentration of debt maturities in late 2011," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Xavier Buffon. "In addition, the debt reduction achieved through the capital increase should somewhat improve the group's key credit metrics."
The capital increase also contributed to the rebalancing of the shareholder structure of the group. The free float now represents up to 76% of the shares, and the previous controlling shareholder, the Merckle family, owns the remainder.
We believe that these steps send positive signals to the capital markets and, other things being equal, increase the chances of the group successfully refinancing its heavy debt load that matures in December 2011.
Moreover, the significant stake in HeidelbergCement formerly held by the Merckle family is now heavily diluted. In our view, this dilution removes an important concern for the group's credit profile, given the historically heavy debt load and recently reported financial difficulties of the family, which had previously been the controlling shareholder.
The ratings on HeidelbergCement reflect our assessment of its aggressive, albeit improving, debt leverage and the very weak end-market conditions, which together translate into weak cash flow metrics that now represent the main constraint to the ratings.
We anticipate somewhat positive discretionary annual cash flows this year and next, and we see a possibly more pronounced recovery in 2011/2012.
In addition, we continue to consider HeidelbergCement's business profile to be credit supportive.
"The positive outlook indicates our view of further potential rating upside in the next 12 months if the group's credit metrics were to recover more rapidly than we currently assume, from a trough that we consider will be reached this year," said Mr. Buffon.
In addition, potential ratings upside could arise if we were to perceive that the risks related to the refinancing of the outstanding secured facilities had reduced further.
The combination of cost savings, stabilization in mature markets, the beneficial impact of the U.S. infrastructure stimulus package, and debt reduction should help increase the group's cash generation next year.
However, at this stage we anticipate only a modest recovery before a possible sharper rebound from 2011 onwards.
Conversely, we could revise the outlook to stable, should the stabilization of the group's ultimate end markets and recovery take longer than we currently anticipate.
Outlook positivo, ci sono possibilità che riescano a migliorare leggermente il merito di credito nel corso del 2009 e nel 2010 e poi, se le cose andassero per il verso giusto, a progredire più decisamente nel 2011.
La famiglia Merckle, per effetto dell'aumento di capitale, scende ad un 24% dell'azionariato, mentre il resto è costituito da flottante.
-- German heavy building materials group HeidelbergCement has successfully raised new bonds for a combined €2.5 billion.
-- The group recently completed a €2.2 billion capital increase, thereby reducing the Merckle family's stake to a quarter of its capital.
-- These actions have together reduced the group's 2011 refinancing burden significantly.
-- We are raising the long-term corporate credit rating to 'B+' from 'B-'.
-- The positive outlook reflects our view of potential further rating upside should the group's credit metrics recover from an anticipated trough this year.
PARIS (Standard & Poor's) Oct. 15, 2009--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it raised its long-term corporate credit rating on German heavy building materials manufacturer HeidelbergCement AG to 'B+' from 'B-' and removed the rating from CreditWatch, where it was placed with positive implications on Sept. 14, 2009. At the same time, the 'B' short-term rating on HeidelbergCement was affirmed. The outlook is positive.
In addition, we raised the issue ratings on the senior unsecured bonds issued by group subsidiaries HeidelbergCement Finance B.V., Hanson Ltd., and Hanson Australia Funding Ltd. to 'B+' from 'CCC+' and removed these ratings from CreditWatch. We also raised the recovery rating on these debt instruments to '3' from '5', indicating our expectation of meaningful (50%-70%) recovery in the event of a payment default.
Furthermore, we assigned an issue rating of 'B+', together with a recovery rating of '3', to HeidelbergCement AG's proposed senior unsecured bonds for €1.0 billion (five-year tenor), €1.0 billion (seven-year tenor), and €0.5 billion (10-year tenor).
These actions follow the recent completion of a capital increase, which has generated €2.2 billion of cash proceeds for HeidelbergCement, as well as the recent issue of €2.5 billion of new bonds aimed at refinancing part of the group's senior bank facilities put in place in June 2009 and due in December 2011.
"We believe that the combined proceeds should substantially improve HeidelbergCement's liquidity through the reduction of the concentration of debt maturities in late 2011," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Xavier Buffon. "In addition, the debt reduction achieved through the capital increase should somewhat improve the group's key credit metrics."
The capital increase also contributed to the rebalancing of the shareholder structure of the group. The free float now represents up to 76% of the shares, and the previous controlling shareholder, the Merckle family, owns the remainder.
We believe that these steps send positive signals to the capital markets and, other things being equal, increase the chances of the group successfully refinancing its heavy debt load that matures in December 2011.
Moreover, the significant stake in HeidelbergCement formerly held by the Merckle family is now heavily diluted. In our view, this dilution removes an important concern for the group's credit profile, given the historically heavy debt load and recently reported financial difficulties of the family, which had previously been the controlling shareholder.
The ratings on HeidelbergCement reflect our assessment of its aggressive, albeit improving, debt leverage and the very weak end-market conditions, which together translate into weak cash flow metrics that now represent the main constraint to the ratings.
We anticipate somewhat positive discretionary annual cash flows this year and next, and we see a possibly more pronounced recovery in 2011/2012.
In addition, we continue to consider HeidelbergCement's business profile to be credit supportive.
"The positive outlook indicates our view of further potential rating upside in the next 12 months if the group's credit metrics were to recover more rapidly than we currently assume, from a trough that we consider will be reached this year," said Mr. Buffon.
In addition, potential ratings upside could arise if we were to perceive that the risks related to the refinancing of the outstanding secured facilities had reduced further.
The combination of cost savings, stabilization in mature markets, the beneficial impact of the U.S. infrastructure stimulus package, and debt reduction should help increase the group's cash generation next year.
However, at this stage we anticipate only a modest recovery before a possible sharper rebound from 2011 onwards.
Conversely, we could revise the outlook to stable, should the stabilization of the group's ultimate end markets and recovery take longer than we currently anticipate.
