Moody's drops Emap

Moody's Investors Service said it downgraded the senior unsecured debt rating of Emap plc to Baa3 from Baa2 and maintained the rating on review for further possible downgrade.

This rating action followed the announcement that Emap has agreed with Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG to sell Emap Consumer Media and Emap Radio for a consideration of £1.14 billion and that upon completion of the disposals, it intends to return £1 billion of the proceeds to shareholders, the agency noted.

Moody's said it notes that both disposals are conditional on shareholder approval, which is to be sought at a general meeting in January and that the sale of Emap Radio is also conditional either on completion of the sale of Emap's Irish Radio Business, or its transfer to Emap.

Moody's said that the Baa3 rating reflects the changed business risk profile of Emap, which will now be concentrated on B2B publishing, events and information services, as well as its reduced-scale, following the disposals.

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