Moody's rates Entergy preferred stock Ba1

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned a Ba1 rating to Entergy Louisiana Inc.'s new issue of preferred stock and affirmed the ratings of all other outstanding debt securities, including the Baa1 senior secured debt rating, Baa2 senior unsecured debt and issuer rating and the Ba1 rating on its existing preferred stock. The ratings of Entergy Corp. are unaffected.

On Dec. 31, Entergy Louisiana restructured and converted its corporate structure to an interim holding company, Entergy Louisiana Holdings Inc. and a limited liability company, Entergy Louisiana LLC. Moody's said the restructuring was executed to eliminate the company's obligation to pay corporation franchise taxes in Louisiana, which totaled $10.3 million in 2005.

Entergy Louisiana LLC is a public utility company that has been allocated substantially all of Entergy Louisiana Inc.'s utility assets and other properties, and will assume substantially all of its obligations, including debt securities and leases, except for $100.5 million of outstanding preferred stock.

In order to maintain the same capital structure as Entergy Louisiana Inc., Entergy Louisiana LLC has issued $100 million of new preferred stock. The assignment of a Ba1 rating to this new issue reflects Moody's view that there has been no material change in the credit quality of the issuer as a result of this change.

© 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.