Moody's may upgrade HeidelbergCement

Moody's Investors Service said it placed the Ba1 long-term and Not-Prime short-term debt ratings of HeidelbergCement AG and its guaranteed finance subsidiaries HeidelbergCement Finance BV and HeidelbergCement Financial Services AB on review for possible upgrade.

The review is prompted by the strong improvement in HeidelbergCement's financial performance in the first half of 2006 following the successful implementation of cost-cutting measures, the expectation that HeidelbergCement will continue to benefit from the implementation of further cost-cutting measures and the improvement of HeidelbergCement's core markets.

Even taking into consideration potential share buybacks used to service debt at its major shareholder, Spohn Cement, Moody's said HeidelbergCement's business and financial risk profile demonstrates many investment-grade characteristics but remain constrained mainly by the remaining uncertainty about the company's short-term refinancing plans.

The review will therefore focus on HeidelbergCement's refinancing strategy with a particular focus on the debt coming due in the beginning of next year, the agency noted.

On review for possible upgrade include HeidelbergCement's corporate family rating, issuer rating, senior unsecured bank credit facility, senior unsecured regular bond/debt and senior unsecured regular bond/debt, all of which are currently Ba1.

© 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.