A$293 million of debt securities affected
Sydney, February 15, 2012 -- Moody's Investors Service has said that the proposed amendment to the
project agreement between RW Health Partnership Pty Limited ("Company")
and the State Government of Victoria (Aaa, "State")
will not in itself impact RWH Finance Pty Ltd's (RWH) rating which
is A2, on review for possible downgrade.
The Company is a special purpose entity set up to design, construct,
operate and provide long term maintenance for the new Royal Women's Hospital,
in Melbourne, Australia under a public private partnership framework.
RWH's rating has been on review for possible downgrade since November
2011 due to the refinancing challenges facing RWH over the medium-to-long
term.
RATINGS RATIONALE
The Company and the State are proposing to amend the Project Agreement
to provide for a pass-through of certain categories of insurance
premia directly by the Company to the State, and a consequent revision
to the payments by the State relating to insurance costs. We expect
the changes to result in a small increase in projected net operating cash
flow over the project term. Moody's does not consider these changes
to be material to RWH's credit profile and rating.
RWH is the financing vehicle for the Company. The Company is a
special purpose entity set up to design, construct, operate
and provide long term maintenance for the new Royal Women's Hospital,
in Melbourne, Australia under the State's Partnership's Victoria
policy. The parties have contracted under a public private partnership
framework pursuant to which the State pays the Company Service Payments
over the 25-year Operating Phase for the facility and provides
professional medical staff and all clinical services.
The methodologies used in this rating were Construction Risk in Privately-Financed
Public Infrastructure (PFI/PPP/P3) Projects published in December 2007,
and Operating Risk in Privately-Financed Public Infrastructure
(PFI/PPP/P3) Projects published in December 2007. Please see the
Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com for a copy of these
methodologies.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
The Global Scale Credit Ratings on this press release that are issued
by one of Moody's affiliates outside the EU are endorsed by Moody's
Investors Service Ltd., One Canada Square, Canary Wharf,
London E 14 5FA, UK, in accordance with Art.4 paragraph
3 of the Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 on Credit Rating Agencies.
Further information on the EU endorsement status and on the Moody's
office that has issued a particular Credit Rating is available on www.moodys.com.
Moody's considers the quality of information available on the rated
entity, obligation or credit satisfactory for the purposes of issuing
a rating. Moody's adopts all necessary measures so that the
information it uses in assigning a rating is of sufficient quality and
from sources Moody's considers to be reliable including, when
appropriate, independent third-party sources. However,
Moody's is not an auditor and cannot in every instance independently
verify or validate information received in the rating process.
Please see Moody's Rating Symbols and Definitions on the Rating
Process page on www.moodys.com for further information on
the meaning of each rating category and the definition of default and
recovery.
Please see ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for the last rating action and the rating history. The date on
which some ratings were first released goes back to a time before Moody's
ratings were fully digitized and accurate data may not be available.
Consequently, Moody's provides a date that it believes is
the most reliable and accurate based on the information that is available
to it. Please see the ratings disclosure page on our website www.moodys.com
for further information.
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has
issued the rating.
Arnon Musiker
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service Pty. Ltd.
Level 10
1 O'Connell Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia
JOURNALISTS: (612) 9270-8102
SUBSCRIBERS: (612) 9270-8100
Terry Fanous
Managing Director
Corporate Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: (612) 9270-8102
SUBSCRIBERS: (612) 9270-8100
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service Pty. Ltd.
Level 10
1 O'Connell Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia
JOURNALISTS: (612) 9270-8102
SUBSCRIBERS: (612) 9270-8100
Moody's: RWH's rating unaffected by proposed amendments to project agreement