London, 18 March 2016 -- Moody's Investors Service confirmed the corporate family rating
(CFR) and probability of default ratings (PDR) of Gold Fields Limited
(Gold Fields) at Ba1 and Ba1-PD, respectively. Concurrently,
Moody's has confirmed the Ba1 rating assigned to the $1 billion
($852M outstanding) senior unsecured notes due 7 October 2020 issued
by Gold Fields Orogen Holding (BVI) Limited, guaranteed by Gold
Fields. The outlook on all the ratings is stable. This concludes
the review for downgrade initiated on 22 January 2016.
"The confirmation of Gold Fields' Ba1 ratings with a stable outlook
reflects the company's maintenance of strong credit metrics and
the significant inroads it has made in de-risking its business
profile, specifically starting to deliver consistent production
with a reducing cost at its South Deep mine project in South Africa",
said Douglas Rowlings, a Moody's Analyst.
This rating action resolves a rating placed under review pursuant to Moody's
review of the global mining sector, parts of which have undergone
a fundamental downward shift. While gold has not experienced the
same magnitude of recent price reductions seen in base metals, it
is nevertheless a volatile commodity, the price of which is very
hard to predict as it is not driven by normal industrial supply and demand
factors. Moody's expects this price risk to be tempered with a
focus on cost efficiency, prudent project development and low financial
risk, in terms of leverage, coverage and robust liquidity.
RATINGS RATIONALE
Today's confirmation primarily reflects Moody's expectations
that, under a new mine management team, Gold Fields'
South Deep mine project could generate free cash flow in 2016 at a gold
price of $1,100/oz and a South African rand/US dollar exchange
rate of 16, bolstering the company's already robust metrics.
Furthermore, Gold Fields successfully negotiated a three-year
wage agreement with South Deep mine project employees in 2015 averting
a potential labour dispute.
The company has also steeply reduced its all-in cost of gold production
across their portfolio of mines to around $942 per ounce for the
quarter ended 31 December 2015 from $1,572 per ounce for
the quarter ended 30 June 2013.
Gold Field's Ba1 corporate family rating is driven by the company's
strong leverage and interest coverage metrics, exposure to gold
price volatility, moderate scale with reasonable mine and geopolitical
diversity and continuing stable production profile. The rating
is constrained by relatively high mining costs, limited visibility
of reserve replenishment at its orogenic Australian mines and production
ramp-up execution risk at its South Deep mine in South Africa.
Moody's views favourably the track record of successful delivery
that has been observed over the past year at the company's South
Deep mine under its new mine management team. Production from the
mine will play an integral part in Gold Fields' longer term production
profile, representing around 73% of its reserve base.
Moody's sees Gold Field's liquidity as good over the next
year, which is supported by the company's $440 million
of cash at 31 December 2015 and the $1 billion availability under
its revolving credit facilities. We expect about $108 million
of free cash flow generation during 2016 at gold price of $1,100
per ounce. The company has no debt maturities over the next 12-18
months, and they have a large cushion on their covenants.
RATIONALE FOR STABLE OUTLOOK
The stable outlook assumes Gold Fields continues to maintain its robust
liquidity profile and protective all-in production cost profile,
which ensure consistent free cash flow generation in a volatile gold price
environment with leverage remaining at current levels. At the same
time, the rating assumes Gold Fields' ability to ensure free
cash flow generation from its South Deep mine project over the long-term.
WHAT COULD CHANGE THE RATING UP/DOWN
Upward rating pressure could result if Gold Fields' maintains adjusted
debt/ EBITDA below 3.0x (2x for the year ended December 2015 )
and CFO minus dividends /debt above 30% (41.2% for
the year ended December 2015), coupled with continuing to build
a production and cost delivery track record at its South Deep mine and
with production levels being maintained at its Australian mines through
reserve replenishment.
Negative pressure could be exerted on Gold Fields' Ba1 corporate family
rating if leverage, as measured by Moody's adjusted debt/EBITDA,
exceeds 3.5x and cash flow from operations minus dividends/debt
falls below 20% on a sustained basis.
Negative pressure could also be exerted on the company's rating following
increased liquidity risk or should Gold Fields be unable to access cash
flows from any of its important international operations, namely,
Ghana, Australia and Peru. Similarly any reversal of de-risking
the South Deep mine project could also place negative pressure on the
rating and/or outlook.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Global Mining Industry
published in August 2014. Please see the Ratings Methodologies
page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.
The Local Market analyst for this rating is Douglas Rowlings, 971-4-237-9543.
Headquartered in Johannesburg, Gold Fields Limited (Gold Fields)
is a global gold mining company with sales totalling $2.55
billion and annual attributable production of 2.2 million ounces
for the financial year ended 31 December 2015, making it the seventh-largest
gold producer globally.
The group is listed on the Johannesburg, New York, NASDAQ
Dubai, Swiss and Brussels stock exchanges.
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.
Gianmarco Migliavacca
VP - Senior Credit Officer
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service Ltd.
One Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London E14 5FA
United Kingdom
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
David G. Staples
MD - Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance Group
Telephone: 00971 4237 9536
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service Ltd.
One Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London E14 5FA
United Kingdom
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
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Moody's confirms Gold Fields' Ba1 ratings; stable outlook