Moody’s rates Infinis CFR B1

Moody's Investors Service said it affirmed the B1 rating on the £350 million senior unsecured notes due 2019 issued by Infinis plc and changed the LGD assessment to LGD4 from LGD3.

Concurrently, the agency assigned a B1 corporate family rating and a probability of default rating of Ba3-PD to Infinis.

The outlook remains negative.

At the same time, Moody's said it will withdraw the B2 corporate family rating (upgraded from B3 with the outlook changed to stable from negative) and the (affirmed) B3-PD ratings on Infinis Energy Ltd., as Infinis is now ultimately owned by 3i Infrastructure plc following the Dec. 8 completion of the acquisition by 3i from private equity group Terra Firma Capital Corp.

Upon closing of the transaction, the £20 million intercompany loan made by Infinis to the wider Infinis group in January 2016 was repaid, increasing Infinis' cash balance by £20.3 million and reducing its net debt/EBITDA by around 0.2 times (this was 3.1 times at Sept. 30).

Moody’s said the assigned B1 corporate family rating positively reflects: (a) Infinis' market position as a leading renewable electricity generator in the U.K.; (b) the relatively stable and predictable nature of the company's principal renewable energy support mechanisms, controlled by the U.K. government, under which almost all of Infinis' output is sold; and (c) its low marginal cost generating fleet, which provides consistent load factors.

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