Moody's downgrades Energen notes to Ba2

Moody's Investors Service said it downgraded Energen Corp.’s senior unsecured notes to Ba2 (LGD5, 86%) and affirmed its Ba1 corporate family rating, Ba1-PD probability of default rating and SGL-2 speculative grade liquidity rating. The outlook is negative.

The downgrade follows the company's announcement that it replaced its old unsecured revolving credit facility with a new $1.5 billion secured credit facility. The senior notes remain unsecured.

The agency said the downgrade of Energen's notes reflects the superior claim that the new credit facility has on the company's assets after a default.

"Despite the significant debt reduction after the divestiture of Alabama Gas Corp., unless reserves and production growth accelerates, Energen's rating remains vulnerable to a downgrade. As a result, Moody's affirmed Energen's corporate family rating and maintained a negative outlook,” Stuart Miller, a Moody's vice president, said in an agency news release.

© 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.