Approximately $5.8 Billion of debt affected
Toronto, November 14, 2012 -- Moody's Investors Service assigned a Ba2 senior unsecured rating
to Bombardier Inc.'s $1 billion notes issue and upgraded
the company's speculative grade liquidity rating to SGL-2
from SGL-3. Moody's affirmed Bombardier's Ba2
corporate family, Ba2 probability of default and Ba2 senior unsecured
rating. The rating outlook remains negative.
The potential that Bombardier would obtain incremental debt was factored
into Moody's decision to change Bombardier's outlook to negative
November 7, 2012. Consequently, the bond issue has
no affect on Bombardier's Ba2 CFR and the new notes are rated Ba2,
the same level as the existing notes. Moody's uses a stricter
set of assumptions when assessing a company's liquidity position,
and the positive impact of the transaction on the company's cash
balance is reflected in today's decision to restore the company's
speculative grade liquidity rating to SGL-2, indicating good
liquidity.
RATINGS RATIONALE
Bombardier's Ba2 rating its driven by its significant scale and diversity,
strong global market positions, natural barriers to entry and sizeable
backlog levels in both its Aerospace and Transportation business segments.
Moody's expects Bombardier will realize modest earnings growth and
about $750 million in consolidated free cash flow consumption in
2013 due to lingering economic weakness affecting its Aerospace division,
spending associated with the company's sizeable aerospace programs,
ongoing margin pressure from recent problem contracts in its Transportation
segment and a continuing weak level of cash advances from customers.
Consequently, the company's adjusted leverage is likely to remain
very high (currently 6.9x pro-forma the debt issue) over
the 12 to 18 month ratings horizon. Execution risks related to
the development of its new CSeries commercial aircraft are also incorporated
in the rating and these risks have increased with the six month delay
in the aircraft's first flight to June 2013.
Bombardier's SGL-2 liquidity rating incorporates pro-forma
consolidated cash balance of $3.1 billion, $1.4
billion (USD equivalent) in unused revolvers and a near-absence
of current debt maturities. Moody's expects Bombardier will
maintain minimum consolidated cash balance of $2 billion and that
headroom to bank financial covenants will remain good through 2013.
The outlook is negative because Bombardier has consumed more cash than
Moody's expected in the past couple of years. A continuation of
this trend would lead to a downgrade given that Bombardier's leverage
is very high for the rating.
Bombardier's rating could be downgraded if the CSeries is further delayed
or if Bombardier's leverage is not expected to reduce below 6x through
the ensuing 12-18 months with ongoing expected improvement beyond
that timeframe. A deterioration in the company's liquidity would
also likely cause a downward rating action.
An upgrade would require evidence of a sustained cyclical upturn in Aerospace,
resolution of recent operational challenges in Transportation, the
successful entry into service of the CSeries, with a growing order
book and leverage sustained below 3.5x. As well, the
company would need to sustain at least good liquidity for a ratings upgrade.
The principal methodology used in rating Bombardier was the Global Aerospace
and Defense Industry Methodology published in June 2010. Other
methodologies used include Loss Given Default for Speculative-Grade
Non-Financial Companies in the U.S., Canada
and EMEA published in June 2009. Please see the Credit Policy page
on www.moodys.com for a copy of these methodologies.
Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Bombardier
is a globally diversified manufacturer of business and commercial jets
as well as rail transportation equipment. Annual revenues total
roughly $17 billion.
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.
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides relevant 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 relevant 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 relevant 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,
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Darren M. Kirk
VP - Senior Credit Officer
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Canada Inc.
70 York Street
Suite 1400
Toronto, ON M5J 1S9
Canada
(416) 214-1635
Donald S. Carter, CFA
MD - Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance Group
(416) 214-1635
Releasing Office:
Moody's Canada Inc.
70 York Street
Suite 1400
Toronto, ON M5J 1S9
Canada
(416) 214-1635
Moody's rates Bombardier notes Ba2; upgrades liquidity rating