Fitch rates Itaś Unibanco notes BBB-

Fitch Ratings said it expects to assign a long-term foreign-currency rating of BBB- to Itau Unibanco Holding SA's upcoming 10-year dollar-denominated subordinated fixed-rate notes.

The notes will be issued by the bank's Grand Cayman branch for an amount to be determined. The principal will mature in about 10 years and four months in January 2021, and interest payments will be made semi-annually. The notes will carry a fixed interest rate to be set at time of issuance and it is part of a $10 billion global medium-term notes program. The rating is contingent upon the receipt of final documents.

The bank has a long-term local-currency issuer default rating of BBB+, long-term foreign-currency issuer default of BBB and a positive outlook. The ratings are constrained by Brazil's country ceiling of BBB, which addresses the risk that a local entity may not be able to access foreign currency.

The rating of these hybrid notes cannot be better than two notches below the rating of the bank's long-term local-currency issuer default rating, the agency said, and the resulting rating is not constrained by the country ceiling, Fitch said.

This reflects the notes' status and the fact that the issuance rights of payments shall be subordinated to the bank's senior debts, the agency said.

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