Toronto, June 23, 2020 -- Moody's Investors Service, ("Moody's") assigned
a Baa3 rating to Teck Resources Limited 's ("Teck") new $550
million of senior unsecured notes due 2030. Proceeds will be used
to repay a portion of Teck's outstanding corporate bond indebtedness
and for general corporate purposes, which may include reducing amounts
outstanding under Teck's revolving line of credit. Teck's
existing ratings are unchanged, including its Baa3 senior unsecured
note rating. The ratings outlook remains stable.
Assignments:
..Issuer: Teck Resources Limited
....Senior Unsecured Regular Bond/Debenture
(Foreign Currency), Assigned Baa3
RATINGS RATIONALE
Teck (Baa3 stable) benefits from 1) good scale (CAD11.9 billion
revenue), 2) excellent liquidity, including a large portion
of secured funding for its Quebrada Blanca II (QB2) copper project,
3) product and geographic diversity (met coal, copper, zinc,
and energy at 14 operating sites), 4) good average cost positions,
5) low geopolitical risk (Canada, Chile, Peru and US),
and 6) a more conservative approach to project development and liquidity
risk than in the past. Teck is constrained by 1) its exposure to
volatile commodity prices (met coal in particular, but also copper
and zinc) which can result in large swings in leverage and cash flow 2)
execution risk for QB2, and 3) expected elevated leverage (between
4x to 5x) through 2022 as a result of its spending on QB2 and lower commodity
prices.
With met coal production expected to be lower in 2020 (21 million tonnes
("mt") compared to 25mt in 2019) and current pricing at about
$115 per tonne, Teck is expected to generate materially lower
adjusted EBITDA of about CAD1.3 billion in 2020 (CAD4.1
billion in 2019). Combined with an increase in debt to fund QB2
project construction, Teck's leverage will be above Moody's
expectations for the rating (about 5x in 2020). As well,
QB2 project construction remains partially suspended due to COVID-19
delaying the in service date and increasing costs (the initial four-week
construction suspension will cost $75 to $125 million with
an eight-week schedule delay, plus an additional $25
to $50 million per month of suspension). Despite these challenges,
Teck's good liquidity position and Moody's expectation that
leverage will rapidly fall once QB2 begins production support the current
rating.
As is typical in the mining industry, Teck is exposed to environmental
risks. This includes, but not limited to wastewater discharges,
site remediation and mine closure, waste rock and tailings management,
and air emissions. The company is subject to environmental laws
and regulations in the areas in which it operates. The mining sector
overall is viewed as a very high-risk sector for soil/water pollution
and land use restrictions and a high-risk sector for water shortages
and natural and man-made hazards.
Teck's liquidity is good. Sources of liquidity over the next year
total about CAD5.6 billion. Sources include 1) cash of about
CAD220 million at March, 31 2020, and 2) CAD5.4 billion
available on its US$4 billion committed credit facility (matures
November 2024). Teck also has a US$2.5 billion limited
recourse project financing facility to fund the development of the QB2
project which closed in November 2019. As at March 31, 2020,
the amount drawn under the facility was US$50 million.
Uses of liquidity are Moody's estimate about CAD $2.8 billion
of negative free cash flow (using Moody's price sensitivities, including
stripping costs, and net of Sumitomo's expected funding at QB2 for
the year). There are no material debt maturities until 2030.
Moody's expects that Teck will maintain ample cushion to its net debt/capitalization
debt covenant.
The stable outlook reflects Moody's expectation that Teck has sufficient
funding and liquidity in place to develop its QB2 project through a range
of commodity prices with limited financing risk. It also incorporates
our expectation that the company will maintain financial discipline regarding
expansion capital expenditures and shareholder distributions and maintain
good liquidity to mitigate commodity price volatility and project spending
risk.
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS
An upgrade to Baa2 would be considered if Teck is able to reduce its concentration
in met coal, which is more volatile than copper or zinc, progress
its development of QB2 and maintain strong liquidity even in adverse market
conditions. An upgrade would also require (CFO-Dividends)/debt
to be consistently at or above 40% (43% at Q1/20) and adjusted
debt/EBITDA maintained at or below 2x (1.6x at Q1/20).
The ratings could be downgraded if adjusted debt /EBITDA is sustained
above 2.75x (1.6x at Q1/20) and (CFO-Dividends)/debt
is sustained below 35% (43% at Q1/20), or if liquidity
weakens materially, most likely during adverse market conditions
coupled with project spending.
The principal methodology used in this rating was Mining published in
September 2018 and available at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1089739.
Alternatively, please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of this methodology.
Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, Teck Resources Limited
is a diversified mining company with assets in Canada, the U.S.,
Peru and Chile. The company is a leading producer of metallurgical
coal, operates one of the world's largest zinc mines (Red Dog in
Alaska) and also produces a meaningful amount of copper. Revenues
were CAD11.9 billion in 2019.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For further specification of Moody's key rating assumptions and
sensitivity analysis, see the sections Methodology Assumptions and
Sensitivity to Assumptions in the disclosure form. Moody's
Rating Symbols and Definitions can be found at: https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_79004.
For ratings issued on a program, series, category/class of
debt or security this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures
in relation to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the
same series, category/class of debt, security 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.
The rating has been disclosed to the rated entity or its designated agent(s)
and issued with no amendment resulting from that disclosure.
This rating is solicited. Please refer to Moody's Policy
for Designating and Assigning Unsolicited Credit Ratings available on
its website www.moodys.com.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
Moody's general principles for assessing environmental, social
and governance (ESG) risks in our credit analysis can be found at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1133569.
The Global Scale Credit Rating on this Credit Rating Announcement was
issued by one of Moody's affiliates outside the EU and is endorsed
by Moody's Deutschland GmbH, An der Welle 5, Frankfurt
am Main 60322, Germany, 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 issued the credit rating is available on www.moodys.com.
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.
Jamie Koutsoukis
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Canada Inc.
70 York Street
Suite 1400
Toronto, ON M5J 1S9
Canada
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Donald S. Carter, CFA
MD - Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Canada Inc.
70 York Street
Suite 1400
Toronto, ON M5J 1S9
Canada
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653