Moody's lifts DigitalGlobe to SGL-1

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded DigitalGlobe, Inc.'s speculative-grade liquidity rating to SGL-1 from SGL-2 and affirmed its corporate family rating, probability-of-default rating and senior secured notes at Ba3.

The outlook is stable.

The agency said the higher speculative-grade liquidity rating indicates very good liquidity and reflects its expectation of the improvement in the company's free cash flow generation as a result of a significant reduction in capital expenditures in 2010 following the launch and successful deployment of its WorldView-2 imagery satellite.

The Ba3 corporate family rating reflects DigitalGlobe's leading position in a relatively nascent market for satellite imagery, the strong stated support for the commercial satellite imagery industry by the U.S. government and the company's strong near-term financial metrics, primarily an adjusted debt-to-EBITDA ratio in the 2 times range, the agency said.

The ratings are tempered by the technology and business risks manifest in the company's high customer and asset concentration and the longer-term uncertainty relating to the company's strategy to expand its satellite fleet and meet shareholder return requirements, Moody's said.

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