S&P puts Antero Resources on watch

S&P said it placed Antero Resources Corp.’s B- issuer and B senior unsecured ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications after the company announced a $525 million tender for its notes due 2021, 2022 and 2023.

“The negative CreditWatch listing reflects the likelihood that we could lower ratings on Antero at the close of the transaction if we view the tender for the 2022 and 2023 senior notes as a selective default. Specifically, we could lower the issuer credit rating to SD and unsecured issue-level ratings on the 2022 and 2023 notes to D, because debtholders will receive less than the original promise on the securities, and we believe there is a risk liquidity could weaken over the next 12 months,” S&P said in a press release.

The agency said it doesn’t consider the tender for the 2021 notes distressed as the offer is a modest discount to par. “We placed the ratings on the senior notes due 2021 and 2025 on CreditWatch to reflect the potential that we would not return the issuer credit rating to the B- level after the exchange if we considered a future distressed debt transaction likely or we believed Antero's liquidity was at risk, given the looming 2022 and 2023 maturities,” S&P said.

S&P said it aims to resolve the CreditWatch on the 2022 and 2023 notes when the transaction closes. “We expect to resolve the CreditWatch placement of the 2021 and 2025 note ratings when we reevaluate the issue credit rating following the exchange,” the agency said.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.