Moody's rates DISH notes Ba2

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned a Ba2 (LGD4, 67%) rating to the proposed $1 billion senior notes maturing in 2018 and 2020 to be issued by DISH Network Corp. subsidiary DISH DBS Corp. DISH's Ba2 corporate family rating and stable outlook are not affected.

Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.

The agency said the offering increases DISH's gross debt-to-EBITDA ratio to about 4.7 times from 4.4 times as of Dec. 31, well above Moody's 3.5 times downward rating trigger for the rating. However, the agency said DISH's high gross leverage is mitigated by its cash and marketable securities balance of more than $7.2 billion as of Dec. 31.

Moody's believes the company has been building up capacity for the purpose of embarking on a yet to be publicly defined wireless broadband strategy that may require large investments but may have positive long-term strategic implications for the company.

© 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.