Moody’s gives Acelen

Moody's Investors Service said it gave a Ba3 corporate family rating to Refinaria de Mataripe SA (Acelen) and affirmed the Ba3 rating to MC Brazil Downstream Trading Sarl's backed senior secured global notes, fully guaranteed by Acelen. Moody's assigned a negative outlook to Acelen and maintained MC Brazil's negative outlook.

“Acelen's Ba3 rating reflects the Mataripe refinery (RefMat)'s strong asset features, its competitive position and strategic location in northeast of Brazil that have been key for the company to successfully practice international parity prices (IPP). It also considers the sponsor profile, with a long track record investing in the refining and petrochemical business, and Acelen's new management team with solid industry expertise to execute on the company's growth strategy,” Moody’s said in a press release.

However, “The rating remains constrained by Acelen's significant exposure to merchant risk, volatility in crack spreads and low visibility into the future offtake profile and fuel prices, leading to reduced predictability of future cash flows. It is also limited by the execution risk related to its capex plan and the achievement of targeted efficiency savings, and by its concentration in a single asset,” Moody’s explained.

The outlook captures the possibility of delays “in the company's pace of recovery for a sustainable cash generation, incorporating cost efficiency savings after the full ramp-up of its investment plan and the full implementation of its revised commercial strategy,” the agency said.

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