Fitch downgrades Noble

Fitch Ratings said it downgraded Noble Group Ltd.'s long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating to B- from BB-.

The agency also said it downgraded Noble's senior unsecured rating and the ratings on all its outstanding senior unsecured notes to B- from BB- and assigned a recovery rating of RR4.

The issuer default rating, senior unsecured ratings and outstanding senior unsecured notes rating also were placed on negative watch.

The downgrades reflect the need for Noble to address debt maturities of $2 billion to $2.1 billion over the next 12 months, Fitch said.

The continuous negative news about the company and resultant weak sentiment is likely to make refinancing negotiations more difficult than expected, the agency said.

This is despite the strength of Noble's balance sheet and high working capital-to-total debt ratio, Fitch said.

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