Mexico, February 22, 2013 -- Moody's Investors Service has assigned a B2 global local currency corporate
family rating (CFR) to Almacenadora Sur, S.A. de C.V.
(Alsur) and lowered by one notch Alsur's long term global local
currency issuer rating to B3, from B2. Moody's also
affirmed Alsur's short term local currency issuer rating of Not
Prime.
At the same time, Moody's de México affirmed Alsur's
long term Mexican National Scale issuer rating of Ba2.mx and short
term Mexican National Scale issuer rating of MX-4.
All ratings have a stable outlook.
The following rating was assigned, with a stable outlook:
Long term global local currency corporate family rating of B2
The following rating was lowered, with a stable outlook:
Long term global local currency issuer rating to B3, from B2
The following ratings were affirmed, with a stable outlook:
Short term global local currency issuer rating of Not Prime
Long term Mexican National Scale issuer rating of Ba2.mx
Short term Mexican National Scale issuer rating of MX-4
RATINGS RATIONALE
The assignment of the corporate family rating (CFR) follows the implementation
of Moody's revised global rating methodology for finance companies,
which establishes the key operational, financial and environmental
factors Moody's considers when rating this type of company. The
CFR incorporates the standalone credit profile of a finance company as
well as any parental or affiliate support.
In contrast to a finance company's issuer ratings, which represent
Moody's opinion of credit risk equivalent to the company's senior unsecured
debt obligations, the CFRs represent the rating agency's opinion
of a company's consolidated credit risk, equivalent to the weighted
average of all debt classes within the company's capital structure.
Using the CFR as a reference point, the methodology codifies Moody's
framework for assigning ratings to the various classes of debt issued
by non-investment grade finance companies on the basis of expected
differences in loss given default. This framework considers the
proportionality, seniority and level of asset protection associated
with various debt classes, both nominally and in relation to each
other.
In the case of Alsur, the implementation of the revised methodology
has led to the lowering by one notch of the issuer rating to B3,
from B2, and the assignment of a CFR one notch above the issuer
rating at B2. This reflects the predominance of senior secured
obligations in the company's debt structure and the structural subordination
of the issuer rating, which reflects the credit risk of senior unsecured
obligations. Alsur's CFR also represents the company's standalone
rating as Moody's does not attribute specific parental or affiliate support
to the rating, given that it is privately owned.
The B2 CFR and affirmation of Alsur's Mexican National Scale issuer
rating at Ba2.mx also reflect the company's stable financial
fundamentals including an improving, though still limited profitability,
in line with higher business volumes and improving operating efficiency.
Moody's also mentioned that Alsur's ratings are supported
by its continued high capitalization, despite a slight increase
in leverage due to higher usage of lines of credit related to investments
in the company's warehouses and silos.
Key risk factors considered in Alsur's ratings are its monoline
business devoted to warehousing and the issuance of certificates of warehoused
deposits, with a limited franchise and diversification within the
small regulated warehousing industry in Mexico. Alsur also presents
poor liquidity and funding diversification. The company's
funding consists mainly of lines of credit from Mexican commercial and
development banks that are largely secured by certificates of warehousing
deposits and the company's fixed assets.
Alsur is headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico and reported Mx$710
million in total assets, Mx$483 million in shareholders'
equity and Mx$7.3 billion in certificates of warehoused
deposits as of 30 September 2012.
The principal methodology used in this rating is the Finance Company Global
Rating Methodology published in March 2012. Please see the Credit
Policy page on www.moodys.com.mx 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 long-term Mexican National Scale ratings of Ba2.mx demonstrate
below-average creditworthiness relative to other domestic issuers.
Moody's applies numerical modifiers 1, 2 and 3 in each generic
rating from Aa to Caa (for example, Ba2.mx). The modifier
2 indicates a mid-range ranking of its generic rating category.
Issuers with short-term Mexican National Scale ratings of MX-4
have a below-average ability to repay short-term senior
debt obligations relative to other domestic issuers.
The last rating action on Alsur was on 4 June 2010, when Moody's
affirmed its ratings with a stable outlook.
The period of time covered in the financial information used to determine
Alsur's rating is between 31 December 2007 and 30 September 2012
(source: Moody's, CNBV and Issuer's financial statements).
The sources and items of information used to determine Alsur's rating
include 2011 and 2012 interim financial statements (source: Alsur);
year-end 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 audited financial
statements (source: Alsur, audited by De la Paz, Costemalle-DFK,
S.C.); and issuer's presentations (source:
Alsur).
Additional information on Rating Symbols and Definitions, issuer,
lead analyst, ratings history, etc. can be found in
Moody's local website www.moodys.com.mx.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
Information sources used to prepare the rating are the following :
parties involved in the ratings, parties not involved in the ratings,
public information, and confidential and proprietary Moody's
Investors Service information.
The rating has been disclosed to the rated entity prior to public dissemination.
A general listing of the sources of information used in the rating process,
and the structure and voting process for the rating committees responsible
for the assignment and monitoring of ratings can be found in the Disclosure
tab in www.moodys.com.mx.
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.mx.
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.
This rating was initiated by Moody's and was not requested by the rated
entity.
This Rating is subject to upgrade or downgrade based on future changes
in the financial condition of the Issuer/Security, and said modifications
will be made without Moody's de Mexico S.A. de C.V
accepting any liability as a result.
Moody's considers the quality of information available on the rated
entity, obligation or credit satisfactory for the purposes of issuing
a rating.
Moody's adopts all necessary measures so that the information it
uses in assigning a rating is of sufficient quality and from sources Moody's
considers to be reliable including, when appropriate, independent
third-party sources. However, Moody's is not
an auditor and cannot in every instance independently verify or validate
information received in the rating process.
Please see Moody's Rating Symbols and Definitions on the Rating
Process page on www.moodys.com.mx for further information
on the meaning of each rating category and the definition of default and
recovery.
Please see ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com.mx
for the last rating action and the rating history. The date on
which some ratings were first released goes back to a time before Moody's
ratings were fully digitized and accurate data may not be available.
Consequently, Moody's provides a date that it believes is
the most reliable and accurate based on the information that is available
to it. Please see the ratings disclosure page on our website www.moodys.com.mx
for further information.
Please see www.moodys.com.mx for any updates on changes
to the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that
has issued the rating.
The ratings issued by Moody's de México are opinions regarding
the credit quality of securities and/or their issuers and not a recommendation
to invest in any such security and/or issuer.
Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Felipe Carvallo
Asst Vice President - Analyst
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's de Mexico S.A. de C.V
Ave. Paseo de las Palmas
No. 405 - 502
Col. Lomas de Chapultepec
Mexico, DF 11000
Mexico
JOURNALISTS: 001-888-779-5833
SUBSCRIBERS:52-55-1253-5700
Maria Celina Vansetti-Hutchins
MD - Banking
Financial Institutions Group
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's de Mexico S.A. de C.V
Ave. Paseo de las Palmas
No. 405 - 502
Col. Lomas de Chapultepec
Mexico, DF 11000
Mexico
JOURNALISTS: 001-888-779-5833
SUBSCRIBERS:52-55-1253-5700
Moody's assigns corporate family rating to Alsur
