Singapore, June 28, 2017 -- Moody's Investors Service has assigned a Baa3 rating to the foreign currency
senior unsecured bonds to be issued by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation
Ltd. (HPCL, Baa3 positive).
The outlook on the rating is positive.
RATINGS RATIONALE
"The bonds will be the senior unsecured obligation of HPCL and as
such are rated at par with its long term issuer ratings. Although
there is secured debt in HPCL's capital structure and the bonds
will be subordinated to such debt, the amount of secured debt is
22% of total debt and 6% of total assets. As such
the risk of legal subordination is low,' says Vikas Halan,
a Moody's Vice President Senior Credit Officer.
As a government related issuer (GRI), HPCL's Baa3 rating combines
its baseline credit assessment (BCA) of ba1 and a one notch uplift under
the joint-default analysis methodology for GRIs, given the
strong support from the Indian government (Baa3, positive),
which has a 51.1% stake in HPCL.
HPCL's BCA reflects its position as India's third largest state owned
refiner of crude oil and third-largest distributor of petroleum
products in the country. The BCA also reflects the company's modest
financial leverage and its potential cash flow volatility as a result
of its exposure to industry cyclicality.
Moody's views HPCL -- Mittal Energy Limited (HMEL, Ba1 stable),
49% owned by HPCL, as integral part of HPCL's business profile
and hence fully consolidates the company into HPCL's credit profile.
For fiscal 2017 ended March 2017, on a fully consolidated basis,
HPCL reported a modest increase in its EBITDA and reduction in debt.
Consequently debt/ EBITDA declined to 2.2x for fiscal 2017 from
2.5x in fiscal 2016.
However, HPCL's increased its dividend payment in fiscal 2017
to INR42 billion from INR 17 billion in fiscal 2016. This higher
dividend resulted in lower retained cash flow (RCF) and consequently,
RCF/ debt declined to 24% fiscal 2017 from 30% in the previous
year. Despite this deterioration in credit metrics, HPCL's
ratings and BCA remain well positioned.
'We expect HPCL to continue to pay high dividends going forward,
which will constrain the improvement in its credit profile,'
says Halan, who is also Moody's lead analyst for HPCL.
The outlook on HPCL's rating is positive, which reflects the positive
outlook on the rating of the Government of India. Its strategic
importance to the country continues to support a rating that is in line
with the sovereign.
Upward pressure on HPCL's BCA may build up over time, if the company's
credit metrics improves meaningfully such that its retained cash flow
(RCF)/debt is maintained at more than 25% on a sustained and fully
consolidated basis. An upgrade of the BCA will not automatically
result in upgrade of the issuer ratings, which will be upgraded
only if the sovereign rating is upgraded.
HPCL's issuer rating may face downward pressure if: (1) the sovereign
rating is downgraded, (2) the government makes changes to the subsidy
framework that are more negative for HPCL, (3) HPCL's BCA deteriorates
below ba3, or (4) the government's ownership in HPCL falls below
51% or its control decreases by some other means, both of
which would require a reassessment of the level of support incorporated
into its ratings.
Downward pressure on HPCL's BCA could build if a) it loses its market
share for petroleum product distribution substantially, b) higher
competition from non-government players, albeit unlikely
in the near term, results in lowering of the marketing margins to
levels achieved in 2014, c) HMEL fails to maintain high levels of
capacity utilization resulting in overall refining margins for the company
to weaken and d) the company embarks on large debt funded capex plan.
Moody's will consider downgrading HPCL's BCA to ba2 if its RCF/debt falls
below 15% on a fully consolidated basis. A downgrade of
BCA will not automatically lead to a downgrade of HPCL's issuer rating.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Refining and Marketing
Industry published in November 2016. Other methodologies used include
the Government-Related Issuers methodology published in October
2014. Please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of these methodologies.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd., headquartered in Mumbai
is one of the leading downstream companies in India, specializing
in oil refining, marketing, distribution, and the retailing
of petroleum products. It is listed on the Indian stock exchanges
and is 51.11% owned by the Indian government.
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.
Vikas Halan
VP - Senior Credit Officer
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service Singapore Pte. Ltd.
50 Raffles Place #23-06
Singapore Land Tower
Singapore 48623
Singapore
JOURNALISTS: 852 3758 1350
Client Service: 852 3551 3077
Laura Acres
MD - Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 852 3758 1350
Client Service: 852 3551 3077
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service Singapore Pte. Ltd.
50 Raffles Place #23-06
Singapore Land Tower
Singapore 48623
Singapore
JOURNALISTS: 852 3758 1350
Client Service: 852 3551 3077