S&P: Rising stars hit six-year low at 22 issuers; fallen angels at 72

By Susanna Moon

Chicago, Jan. 20 - Standard & Poor's said it upgraded one issuer this past month to investment grade, or rated BBB- and higher, from speculative grade, or BB+ and lower.

"This brings the total number of rising stars in 2009 to 22 issuers, affecting debt worth $63.39 billion, or €38.98 billion," Diane Vazza, head of S&P's global fixed-income research, said in a press release.

"This is the lowest annual tally of rising stars since 2003, when Standard & Poor's upgraded 20 issuers to investment grade."

The agency defines potential rising stars as issuers rated BB+ with either a positive outlook or ratings on CreditWatch with positive implications.

Since last month, three issuers were removed and one issuer was added to the agency's list of global potential rising stars, bringing the total to 12 issuers with $21.06 billion in rated debt.

By issuer count, this is the same as the average of the past 12 months, the agency noted.

In contrast, there are 72 potential fallen angels with rated debt worth $200.46 billion, down from the 18-year record high of 82 in March. The companies are rated BBB- and have either a negative outlook or ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications.

© 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.