New York, November 13, 2019 -- Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) changed Laredo Petroleum,
Inc.'s (Laredo) rating outlook to stable from positive and downgraded
the company's senior unsecured notes rating to B3 from B2.
Concurrently, Moody's affirmed Laredo's B1 Corporate
Family Rating (CFR) and B1-PD Probability of Default Rating (PDR).
The Speculative Grade Liquidity Rating remains SGL-2.
"Laredo's business strategy is in transition as the company strives to
boost oil production in order to improve margins and returns over time,"
commented Amol Joshi, Moody's Vice President and Senior Credit Officer.
"Laredo's credit profile benefits from moderate leverage pro forma
for the announced $130 million acreage acquisition, while
its sizeable but less oily legacy asset base has endured lower margins
and cash flow even with a competitive cost structure."
Downgrades:
..Issuer: Laredo Petroleum, Inc.
....Senior Unsecured Notes, Downgraded
to B3 (LGD5) from B2 (LGD5)
Outlook Actions:
..Issuer: Laredo Petroleum, Inc.
....Outlook, Changed To Stable From
Positive
Affirmations:
..Issuer: Laredo Petroleum, Inc.
.... Probability of Default Rating,
Affirmed B1-PD
.... Corporate Family Rating, Affirmed
B1
RATINGS RATIONALE
The change of Laredo's rating outlook to stable reflects Moody's
expectation that the company should maintain sound financial metrics while
managing its capital program and liquidity prudently, as the company
begins executing its strategy to improve margins and returns.
Following Laredo's acreage acquisition announcement, Moody's
expects the company to focus its 2020 drilling on the new oily acreage
and significantly reduce drilling activity on its legacy acreage.
This should gradually increase oil content in the company's production
mix and improve margins, if capital and operating costs remain under
control.
The B1 CFR is supported by the company's production and reserves
base in the Permian's prolific Midland Basin, a sizeable,
repeatable drilling inventory providing organic growth potential,
high degree of operational control along with retained gathering assets
within its production corridors and track record of hedging production.
Laredo's leverage metrics are healthy reflecting the company's
moderate leverage, allowing some flexibility to execute its changing
strategic goals. However, Laredo's credit profile remains
constrained by its relatively small scale and geographically concentrated
upstream operations, low proportion of crude oil in its existing
production and the significant capital expenditures required to develop
its acreage.
Moody's downgraded Laredo's senior unsecured notes to B3 from B2.
Laredo's notes are rated two notches below the B1 CFR, reflecting
the priority claim of the relatively large borrowing base senior secured
credit facility that has a first lien on most of Laredo's assets.
Laredo's SGL-2 Speculative Grade Liquidity Rating reflects
its good liquidity profile. At September 30, 2019,
the company had $32 million of cash, and $185 million
outstanding under its credit facility. In October 2019, Laredo's
borrowing base was reduced to $1 billion from $1.1
billion. In November, Laredo announced a $130 million
acreage acquisition likely to be funded with additional revolver borrowings.
The company will likely limit cash flow outspend in 2020 if commodity
prices remain weak, while existing 2020 hedges should be supportive.
Availability under its revolver should cover funding shortfalls through
2020. Financial covenants under Laredo's credit facility
include a maximum Consolidated Net Leverage Ratio of 4.25x and
a current ratio of at least 1x. Moody's expects the company
to have ample headroom under its covenants through 2020 based on projected
spending and debt levels. Laredo's nearest notes maturity
is January 2022. While Laredo's revolver maturity is April
2023, it has a springing maturity implying that the revolver will
mature 90-days prior to the January 2022 notes maturity if the
notes are not refinanced by then.
The ratings could be upgraded if Laredo grows its production scale and
oil content while achieving cash flow neutrality, with retained
cash flow (RCF) to debt ratio maintained above 40% and leveraged
full cycle ratio (LFCR) exceeding 1.5x. Moody's could consider
a downgrade if the RCF/debt ratio falls towards 20% or the company's
capital productivity declines significantly.
Laredo Petroleum, Inc. is a Tulsa, Oklahoma based independent
exploration and production company with primary assets in West Texas'
Midland Basin.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Independent Exploration
and Production Industry published in May 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, 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.
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.
Amol Joshi, CFA
VP - Sr Credit Officer
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Steven Wood
MD - Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653