New York, December 01, 2020 -- Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") downgraded Callon Petroleum Company's
(Callon) Probability of Default Rating (PDR) to Caa1-PD/LD from
B3-PD, Corporate Family Rating (CFR) to Caa1 from B3,
and ratings on its senior unsecured notes to Caa2 from Caa1. The
limited default (LD) designation was appended to the PDR following the
exchange of senior unsecured notes for new 9.0% senior secured
second lien notes due 2025. The Speculative Grade Liquidity (SGL)
rating remains SGL-3. The outlook has been revised to stable
from negative.
"Callon Petroleum's asset monetization transactions and debt exchanges
have reduced its debt principal," stated James Wilkins,
Moody's Vice President. "However, we expect the company's
credit metrics will remain weak until demand for refined products and
oil prices recover and there remains the potential that the company will
engage in further debt exchanges."
Downgrades:
..Issuer: Callon Petroleum Company
.... Probability of Default Rating,
Downgraded to Caa1-PD /LD from B3-PD
.... Corporate Family Rating, Downgraded
to Caa1 from B3
....Senior Unsecured Notes, Downgraded
to Caa2 (LGD5) from Caa1 (LGD5)
Outlook Actions:
..Issuer: Callon Petroleum Company
....Outlook, Changed To Stable From
Negative
RATINGS RATIONALE
The downgrade in Callon's PDR to Caa1-PD/LD reflects Moody's expectation
the company may engage in further debt exchanges which could be considered
defaults. Moody's considers Callon's exchange of $389
million of debt at a significant discount to par as a distressed exchange,
which is a default under Moody's definition. Moody's has appended
the PDR with an "/LD" designation indicating a limited default,
which will be removed after three business days. The company issued
$217 million of new 9.0% senior secured second lien
notes due 2025 and approximately 1.7 million warrants in exchange
for $389 million of senior unsecured notes, reducing the
principal amount of debt by $172 million.
The CFR considers Callon's success in managing through the difficult
market environment in 2020, but also the expectation that it will
not generate significant positive cash flow in 2021 while oil supply continues
to exceed depressed demand levels, leverage will remain high and
its credit metrics will remain weak. The company has guided its
2021 operational capital expenditures will be between $375 million
and $400 million (down from $500 million - $510
million estimated for 2020) as it limits capital expenditures to internally
generated cash flow, and it will experience a year-over-year
decline in production volumes due to a combination of a reduced capital
program focused on generating sustainable free cash flow and recent asset
sales.
Callon's scale has benefited from acquisitions and a track record
of organically growing production and reserves prior to 2020. Following
the December 2019 Carrizo acquisition, Callon has larger and more
diversified operations focused on two shale plays in the Permian Basin
and the Eagle Ford Basin. The Permian Basin acreage is in the early
stages of development and will require significant capital to develop,
while the acquired Eagle Ford assets, which are also predominately
oil producing assets, are more mature assets. The company
has competitive unit costs, strong operating margins, and
a high proportion of oil in its production volumes.
Callon's senior unsecured notes ($1.5 billion principal
amount as of September 30, 2020, pro forma for the exchanges)
were downgraded to Caa2 from Caa1 as a result of the one notch downgrade
in the CFR and the addition of senior secured second lien debt to the
capital structure. The unsecured notes are contractually subordinated
to the secured debt ($517 million of senior secured second lien
notes due 2025 and borrowings under the secured revolving credit facility).
Callon's SGL-3 rating reflects its adequate liquidity, supported
by cash flow from operations, modest cash balances, as well
as its revolving credit facility. The revolver had a $1.6
billion borrowing base, $24.1 million of letters of
credit and $995 million of borrowings as of September 30,
2020, pro forma for its asset monetization transactions, leaving
$581 million available on the revolver. The revolver has
two financial covenants - a minimum current ratio of 1x and a maximum
secured leverage ratio of 3x - with which Moody's expects
the company to remain in compliance through 2021. In 2022,
the company will cease being subject to the secured leverage ratio and
will be subject to a maximum leverage ratio of 4.0x. Callon
has no upcoming debt maturities until 2023.
The stable outlook reflects the low and volatile commodity price environment
and Moody's expectation that Callon will maintain adequate available
borrowing capacity under its revolver.
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS
The ratings could be downgraded if liquidity weakens, RCF/debt falls
below 10% or capital efficiency weakens significantly. The
ratings could be upgraded in a more supportive oil and gas price environment
if Callon maintains adequate liquidity, RCF/debt above 15%
and a leveraged full cycle ratio greater than 1x.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Independent Exploration
and Production Industry published in May 2017 and available at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1056808.
Alternatively, please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of this methodology.
Callon Petroleum Company, headquartered in Houston, TX is
an independent exploration and production company with operations in the
Permian Basin and the Eagle Ford Shale in Texas.
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
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James Wilkins
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
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Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Steven Wood
MD - Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance Group
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