London, 18 December 2014 -- Moody's Investors Service has today upgraded to Baa2 from Baa3 the senior
unsecured rating of Societe des Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhone
(APRR). Concurrently, Moody's has upgraded to (P)Baa2 from
(P)Baa3 the provisional rating on the company's EUR6 billion medium-term
note (EMTN) programme. The outlook on the ratings is stable.
RATINGS RATIONALE
The rating upgrade recognises the continued positive traffic trends on
APRR's network, which Moody's expects to lead to improved credit
metrics on a consolidated basis, including debt at its holding company
Eiffarie, which will be commensurate with the Baa2 rating category.
APRR reported an increase in traffic of 1.4% (in terms of
number of vehicle kilometres travelled) as of September 2014 versus the
corresponding period in the previous year. More specifically,
light vehicle traffic increased by 1.4% and heavy goods
vehicle traffic by 1.9%. The recent traffic trends
indicate a particularly improved performance for heavy vehicle traffic,
which had suffered relatively more pronounced declines since the onset
of the financial crisis. Improved traffic volumes translate into
growth in APRR's revenues, which reached almost EUR1.65 billion
in the nine months ending September 2014, up 2.3%
compared with the corresponding period in 2013. In this regard,
Moody's notes that APRR's new management contract covering the 2014-18
period provides for annual tariff increases of 85% of the inflation
rate plus a fixed margin of 0.37% and 0.41%
for the APRR and Autoroutes Rhone-Alpes (AREA) concessions respectively.
The rating upgrade also reflects Moody's expectation that APRR's
cash flows will be further supported by a decrease of the company's
cost of debt, as a result of the ongoing refinancing of a portion
of its outstanding debt. APRR recently issued EUR1.4 billion
of bonds in two tranches, exhibiting a coupon of 1.125%
for the six-year tranche and 1.875% for the 10-year
tranche, with interest costs well below the company's current
average cost of debt. In addition to the coverage of 2015 debt
maturities (EUR1.3 billion), the recent issuance was also
finalised in the context of APRR's target to refinance debt at its
holding company Eiffarie, well in advance of its 2017 final maturity.
Moody's considers that the factors above are supportive of the deleveraging
of APRR on a consolidated basis, which includes debt at its holding
company Eiffarie, thus underpinning the company's credit profile
in light of significant debt maturities over the medium term as APRR's
CNA loans and outstanding bonds come due. The recent trends also
support the financial needs associated with APRR's planned investments,
expected to increase in the context of the approval of the Plan de Relance
Autoroutier, under which APRR will likely implement higher capital
expenditure in exchange of an extension of its concessions lengths.
More generally, from a business risk perspective, APRR's rating
continues to reflect (1) the strong characteristics and competitive position
of APRR's concession assets, comprising a 2,282 km network;
(2) the economic strength and diversification of its service area;
and (3) the robust traffic profile, with a diversified user base
and a long track record of operations under a well-established
regulatory framework.
The stable outlook on the rating reflects Moody's expectation that,
whilst APRR's financial profile, when consolidating debt at Eiffarie,
will remain relatively leveraged, key credit metrics will strengthen
from historical levels to levels commensurate with the Baa2 rating category.
WHAT COULD CHANGE THE RATING UP/DOWN
APRR's rating could be upgraded if the group's credit metrics, including
the additional debt at Eiffarie, were to improve such that the Funds
From Operations (FFO)/debt metric was to exceed the low teens in percentage
terms on a sustainable basis.
The rating could come under negative pressure if the group was unable
to demonstrate a minimum consolidated ratio of FFO/debt of at least 8%
or Moody's Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR) of at least 1.3x
on a sustainable basis.
PRINCIPAL METHODOLOGY
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Privately Managed
Toll Roads published in May 2014. Please see the Credit Policy
page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.
APRR is one of the main motorway concession companies in France.
APRR is the concessionaire for 2,282 km of tolled motorways under
two concession agreements signed with the French state by APRR and its
subsidiary Autoroutes Rhone-Alpes (AREA): (1) the APRR concession
for 1,869 km (1,850 km in operation); and (2) AREA concession
for 413 km including Adelac, a 49.9% subsidiary which
is the concession operator for a 19 km section of the A41 Nord.
Both concessions currently expire in 2032.
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 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.
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 rated entity or its agent(s) did not participate in the rating process.
Moody's was not provided, for purposes of the rating,
access to the books, records and other relevant internal documents
of the 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.
Raffaella Altamura
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Infrastructure 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
Andrew Blease
Associate Managing Director
Infrastructure Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service Ltd.
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Moody's upgrades APRR's rating to Baa2; stable outlook