Moody’s cuts Noble, debt to Ba3

Moody's Investors Service said it downgraded Noble Group Ltd.’s corporate family rating and senior unsecured bond ratings to Ba3 from Ba1 and the provisional rating on its senior unsecured medium-term note program to provisional Ba3 from provisional Ba1.

The ratings are under review for further downgrade.

On Feb. 23, Noble announced that it will book $1.2 billion in non-cash asset impairment charges, which are in addition to the expected write-down of over $500 million related to the sale of its remaining 49% stake in Noble Agri Ltd. The asset impairment was primarily triggered by a lowering in its anchor price for thermal coal to reflect the prolonged weakness in coal prices.

"The downgrade reflects the impact of the unexpected assets write-down on Noble's business and financial profile," Moody's vice president and senior credit officer Joe Morrison said in a news release.

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