London, 22 December 2017 -- Moody's Investors Service has today affirmed the B1 corporate family rating
(CFR) and B1-PD probability of default rating (PDR) of the Russian
road construction company Autobann (LLC SOYUZDORSTROY) ("Autobann").
Concurrently, Moody's has affirmed the B1 rating assigned to the
two senior unsecured outstanding rouble-denominated bonds of Autobann.
The outlook on all ratings remains stable.
RATINGS RATIONALE
Since 2016, Autobann's business model has changed materially,
with the company's increasing exposure to public--private partnership
(PPP) projects, which involve significant private investments with
long-term payback periods. At the moment, the company
has three PPP projects in its portfolio, including the Central Ring
Road (Startup facility 3) concession, which is by far the largest
project in its backlog.
As a result, while Autobann has historically relied on short-term
working capital financing with year-end adjusted net debt/EBITDA
normally staying at or below 1.0x, the recent shift to longer-term
debt has brought a structural change in its leverage pattern.
Nevertheless, Moody's expects that Autobann will continue
to preserve a healthy credit profile, which will remain defined
by its conservative financial policy, with the continuation of its
reported recourse net debt/EBITDA target of below 2.0x.
Overall, Autobann's adjusted recourse leverage (which excluded
concessions-related debt) has settled in the range of 2.0x-2.5x,
which remains in line with the B1 rating.
While its adjusted recourse debt/EBITDA may finally rise towards 3.0x
this year, Moody's expects that the company will quickly deleverage
back to below 2.5x in 2018 as the increase will be primarily driven
by a technical carry-forward of contract receipts from Q4 2017
to Q1 2018.
In addition, with a 75% equity interest, Autobann now
consolidates the large-scale Central Ring Road concession,
which should drive its adjusted consolidated leverage (including non-recourse
concession-related debt) towards 5.0x starting 2018.
However, Moody's notes that the concession-related
debt will have no direct recourse to the company and will be fully backed
by cash flows from the State Company Avtodor. The participation
of prominent financial institutions will further reduce financial risks
for Autobann. The remaining 25% stake is held by the Eurasian
Development Bank (Baa1 stable), which injects significant part of
the equity and subordinated debt and, together with Sberbank (Ba1
stable) and Gazprombank (Ba2 stable), provides debt funding.
Autobann targets to reduce its stake in the concession to 25% and
deconsolidate the project in 2018-19, with a number of agreements
with prospective investors already in place. When completed,
this will push its consolidated leverage back down to historical,
pre-concession level.
Although Autobann does not plan majority participation in other concession
projects, Moody's cannot fully rule out such possibility,
subject to attractive opportunities in the actively developing Russian
concession market. Therefore, the consolidated leverage may
stay elevated beyond 2018-19. At the same time, given
a fairly comfortable risk profile of such projects, Moody's
generally tends to tolerate higher leverage level for companies involved
in concessions.
Autobann's CFR of B1 remains constrained by its (1) small scale relative
to its global peers; (2) reliance on the Russian road construction
market, which is vulnerable to economic conditions in the country
despite some recent recovery in budget spending on the back of stabilising
domestic economic conditions; (3) high project and customer concentration
with exposure to large-scale complex construction projects;
(4) in-year liquidity volatility, with costs incurred throughout
the year, but contract receipts mostly clustered towards the end
of each year; and (5) corporate governance risks associated with
the company's single shareholder structure.
More positively, the rating reflects Autobann's (1) low risk business
model, whereby most projects relate to construction of important
federal and regional roads and are performed under contracts with state
bodies; (2) leading position and reputation as a reliable contractor
with strong in-house expertise, which differentiates it from
many of its competitors in the market, which is characterised by
high barriers to entry; (3) good visibility on future revenue and
cash flows owing to its healthy order backlog and solid bidding opportunities;
and (4) conservative approach to project assessment and track record of
successful project completions, which reduce execution risks related
to large complex projects. Moody's also positively acknowledges
Autobann's track record of sound operating performance through the
cycle with strong revenue growth and stable profitability.
Autobann's liquidity profile remains healthy, as supported
by meaningful backup credit facilities provided by banks against state-funded
contracts.
RATIONALE FOR THE STABLE OUTLOOK
The stable outlook reflects Moody's expectation that Autobann's
business model will remain resilient to economic cycles and that it will
maintain healthy construction volumes and stable profitability.
The outlook assumes that the company's adjusted recourse debt/EBITDA
will remain below 3.0x, while adjusted consolidated debt/EBITDA
will not exceed 5.5x on a sustainable basis.
WHAT COULD CHANGE THE RATINGS UP/DOWN
Given Autobann's current scale and limited diversification,
an upgrade in the medium term is unlikely. In a longer term a continuing
track record of a strong financial and operational performance,
conservative financial policies , good visibility with regard to
cash flow generation, alongside with prudent liquidity management,
might have a positive effect on the rating.
Autobann's rating could come under downward pressure should the
company face material deterioration in its business or financial profile,
illustrated by visible erosion of profitability as well as adjusted recourse
debt/EBITDA increasing substantially above 3.0x and adjusted consolidated
debt/EBITDA exceeding 5.5x, all on sustained basis.
A material deterioration of the company's liquidity profile could
also exert downward pressure on the rating.
PRINCIPAL METHODOLOGY
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Construction Industry
published in March 2017. Please see the Rating Methodologies page
on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.
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 credit rating action on the support provider and in relation to
each particular credit 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 credit rating action,
and whose ratings may change as a result of this credit 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.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
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.
Ekaterina Lipatova
Asst Vice President - Analyst
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service Limited, Russian Branch
7th floor, Four Winds Plaza
21 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya St.
Moscow 125047
Russia
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Client Service: 44 20 7772 5454
Victoria Maisuradze
Associate Managing Director
Corporate Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
Client Service: 44 20 7772 5454
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