Buenos Aires City, May 02, 2013 -- Moody's Latin America has assigned ratings of (P)B3 (global scale) and
A3.ar (Argentina National Scale) to the Series 4 of notes to be
issued by the City of Buenos Aires under the Local Financing Program for
up to US$216 million, payable in Argentine pesos.
Series 1 and 2 under this program were issued in 2012, adding up
US$185 million and both were rated (P)B3 (global scale) and A3.ar
(Argentina National Scale). Series 3 was issued in past February
for an additional amount of US$100 million.
The new series to be issued under the program, Series 4, will
be subscribed and payable in Argentine pesos at the specified exchange
rate and sold in the local capital market. The assigned ratings
are in line with the city's local currency debt ratings.
RATINGS RATIONALE
The creation of the Financing Program has been authorized by the Law 4315.
The notes to be issued under the program constitute direct, general,
unconditional, and unsubordinated obligations of the city,
ranking at all times pari passu without any preference among themselves.
Considering the new series, the program will reach US$501
million in total, which represents around 12.6% of
the city's estimated net direct and indirect debt as of March 31,
2013, and barely 6% of total projected revenues for that
year.
The city will offer a four tranche of up to US$216 million with
an expected maturity of up to six years. These notes will be subscribed
and payable in Argentine pesos at the specified exchange rate and pay
interest at a fixed rate.
The assigned ratings are in line with the city's B3 (global scale) and
A3.ar (Argentina national scale) local currency debt ratings.
The rating level is in line with the B3 Sovereign rating. The outlook
is negative, reflecting the ongoing deterioration in Argentina's
operating environment, including a decelerating economy and rising
fiscal and foreign exchange pressures. Despite the intrinsic financial
characteristics of the City of Buenos Aires, the lack of consistent
and predictable policies at the national level affects the institutional
framework under which the city operates and ultimately anchors its credit
quality to that of the Sovereign.
WHAT COULD CHANGE THE RATING UP/DOWN
Moody's does not expect upward pressures in the City of Buenos Aires'
ratings in the near to medium term. The city could be further downgraded
if the negative outlook on the sovereign rating materializes into a rating
downgrade. Furthermore, any action taken by the central government
that would negatively impact the ability of the city to repay its financial
obligations could lead to a further downgrade. Any such actions
would be viewed by Moody's as further illustration of a deteriorating
institutional framework and an unstable policy environment.
The principal methodology used in this rating was Regional and Local Governments
published in January 2013 and Mapping Moody's National Scale Ratings to
Global Scale Ratings published in October 2012. Please see the
Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this
methodology.
Moody's National Scale Ratings (NSRs) are intended as relative measures
of creditworthiness among debt issues and issuers within a country,
enabling market participants to better differentiate relative risks.
NSRs differ from Moody's global scale ratings in that they are not globally
comparable with the full universe of Moody's rated entities, but
only with NSRs for other rated debt issues and issuers within the same
country. NSRs are designated by a ".nn" country
modifier signifying the relevant country, as in ".mx"
for Mexico. For further information on Moody's approach to national
scale ratings, please refer to Moody's Rating Methodology published
in October 2012 entitled "Mapping Moody's National Scale Ratings
to Global Scale Ratings".
The last rating action was on February 28, 2013 when Moody's assigned
debt ratings of (P)B3/A3.ar.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series
or category/class of debt or pursuant to a program for which the ratings
are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's
rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to the rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular
rating action for securities that derive their credit ratings from the
support provider's credit rating.
For provisional ratings, this announcement provides certain regulatory
disclosures in relation to the provisional rating assigned, and
in relation to a definitive rating that may be assigned subsequent to
the final issuance of the debt, in each case where the transaction
structure and terms have not changed prior to the assignment of the definitive
rating in a manner that would have affected the rating.
For further information please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity
page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
For any affected securities or rated entities receiving direct credit
support from the primary entity(ies) of this rating action, and
whose ratings may change as a result of this rating action, the
associated regulatory disclosures will be those of the guarantor entity.
Exceptions to this approach exist for the following disclosures,
if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure
to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.
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.
Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Alejandro Pavlov
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's Latin America
Ing. Butty 240
16th Floor
Buenos Aires City C1001AFB
Argentina
JOURNALISTS: (800) 666 -3506
SUBSCRIBERS: (5411) 5129 2600
David M Rubinoff
MD - Sub-Sovereigns
Financial Institutions Group
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Releasing Office:
Moody's Latin America
Ing. Butty 240
16th Floor
Buenos Aires City C1001AFB
Argentina
JOURNALISTS: (800) 666 -3506
SUBSCRIBERS: (5411) 5129 2600
Moody's assigns debt ratings to the City of Buenos Aires