Moody's rates Votorantim Cimentos notes Baa3

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned a Baa3 foreign-currency rating to the proposed senior unsecured perpetual notes in the amount of about $500 million to be issued by Votorantim Cimentos SA and fully and unconditionally guaranteed by Votorantim Participações SA and Votorantim Industrial SA.

Votorantim Participações has a global-scale senior unsecured issuer rating of Baa3 and Brazilian national scale rating of Aa1.br.

Voto - Votorantim Overseas Trading Operations III Ltd. has a foreign-currency rating of Baa3 on its $208 million senior unsecured guaranteed notes due 2014 and Voto - Votorantim Ltd. has foreign-currency Baa3 ratings on its $750 million senior unsecured guaranteed notes due 2021 and €750 million senior unsecured guaranteed notes due 2017.

The proposed notes issuance is part of Votorantim's liability management strategy and will not increase the group's leverage as the net proceeds will be largely used to refinance existing debt, consequently improving its debt maturity profile, Moody's said.

The rating of the proposed notes considers Votorantim's low level of secured debt on a consolidated basis, the agency said, and is not constrained by Brazil's Baa2 foreign-currency country ceiling.

The outlook is stable.

The ratings reflect the combination of the group's size as one of the largest Brazilian industrial conglomerates with good business diversification, Moody's said, and cost-competitive operations based on high vertical integration of its operations, in spite of the heavy concentration of its industrial activities in commodity products.

© 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.