New York, April 10, 2019 -- Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) has upgraded the corporate
family rating of Avolon Holdings Limited ("Avolon") to Baa3
from Ba1, the senior unsecured ratings of Avolon Holdings Funding
Limited and Park Aerospace Holdings Limited to Baa3 from Ba2, and
the senior secured rating of Avolon TLB Borrower 1 (US) LLC to Baa2 from
Baa3. Moody's also assigned a Baa3 rating to the proposed
multi-tranche senior unsecured notes of Avolon Holdings Funding
Limited announced today. This concludes Moody's review of
Avolon's ratings initiated on April 8, 2019. The rating
outlook for Avolon and its rated subsidiaries is stable.
Assignments:
..Issuer: Avolon Holdings Funding Limited
....Gtd Senior Unsecured Regular Bond/Debenture,
Assigned Baa3
Upgrades:
..Issuer: Avolon Holdings Funding Limited
....Gtd Senior Unsecured Regular Bond/Debenture,
Upgraded to Baa3 from Ba2, Rating Under Review
..Issuer: Avolon Holdings Limited
.... Corporate Family Rating, Upgraded
to Baa3 from Ba1, Rating Under Review
..Issuer: Avolon TLB Borrower 1 (US) LLC
....Gtd Senior Secured Bank Credit Facility,
Upgraded to Baa2 from Baa3, Rating Under Review
..Issuer: Park Aerospace Holdings Limited
....Gtd Senior Unsecured Regular Bond/Debenture,
Upgraded to Baa3 from Ba2, Rating Under Review
Outlook Actions:
..Issuer: Avolon Holdings Funding Limited
....Outlook, Changed To Stable From
Rating Under Review
..Issuer: Avolon Holdings Limited
....Outlook, Changed To Stable From
Rating Under Review
..Issuer: Avolon TLB Borrower 1 (US) LLC
....Outlook, Changed To Stable From
Rating Under Review
..Issuer: Park Aerospace Holdings Limited
....Outlook, Changed To Stable From
Rating Under Review
RATINGS RATIONALE
Moody's upgraded Avolon's ratings based on further transformation
of Avolon's funding structure resulting from the proposed issuance
of $1.8 billion of senior unsecured notes and intention
to use transaction proceeds to repay secured debt. Avolon has progressively
reduced its secured debt reliance and increased its unencumbered assets,
strengthening its financial flexibility. Avolon's ratio of
secured debt to tangible assets will likely measure about 38% as
of end-March 2019, down from 41% at end-December
2018 (including Moody's adjustments), reflecting the company's
$1.7 billion of unsecured debt issuance in Q1 2019,
a portion of the proceeds of which were used to repay secured debt.
Moody's expects that Avolon's ratio of secured debt to tangible
assets will decline to 30% or less as a result of the proposed
issuance of senior unsecured notes and subsequent secured debt repayments,
achieving a key criterion of the ratings upgrade.
The senior unsecured debt ratings of Avolon's subsidiaries were
upgraded by two notches, resulting in their alignment with Avolon's
upgraded Baa3 corporate family rating. The two-notch upgrade
reflects the higher proportion of senior unsecured debt in the company's
capital structure and the growing base of unencumbered assets that provides
coverage, improving creditor protections in a default scenario.
Avolon's corporate family rating will be subsequently withdrawn
because Moody's assigns corporate family ratings only to non-investment
grade entities.
The Baa3 rating Moody's has assigned to Avolon's proposed
senior unsecured notes reflects the notes' priority in the company's
capital structure. The notes rank pari passu with other senior
unsecured debt issued by Avolon's subsidiaries based on their terms
and parental and affiliate guarantees.
Moody's upgrade of Avolon's ratings is also based on the company's
strong liquidity management and profitability, characteristics that
Moody's expects will continue to compare well with similarly rated
peers. Avolon has also demonstrated effective management of the
financial risks of its aircraft order book by committing ordered aircraft
to leases well in advance of their delivery and by providing the liquidity
necessary for the aircraft expenditures. With a ratio of debt to
tangible net worth of 2.4x at year-end 2018, Avolon
maintains a strong capital cushion considering its fleet and airline risk
characteristics. Avolon's governance risks relating to its
parent Bohai Capital Corp. and its controlling shareholder HNA
Group have become less prominent credit constraints since ORIX Corporation
(A3 stable) acquired a 30% minority interest in Avolon in November
2018. Bohai and HNA have also made strides to reduce their leverage
and short-term debt balances, which lessens their financial
risks and leads to more stable governance at Avolon.
Moody's could upgrade Avolon's ratings if the company: 1)
reduces its ratio of secured debt to gross tangible assets to 20%
or less; 2) extends its average debt maturity profile to further
reduce refinancing risk; 3) maintains a ratio of debt to tangible
net worth of 2.5x or less while also maintaining strong fleet characteristics
and effectively managing the risks of its aircraft order book; and
4) maintains profitability levels that compare favorably with similarly
rated peers.
Moody's could downgrade Avolon's ratings if the company: 1) increases
its ratio of debt to tangible net worth to more than 3x, 2) materially
weakens its liquidity considering its upcoming aircraft expenditures and
debt refinancing requirements, 3) experiences weakened profitability
prospects compared to similarly rated peers, and 4) pursues aircraft
investments that materially increase its lease residual risks.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Finance Companies
published in December 2018. 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 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.
Mark L. Wasden
VP - Senior Credit Officer
Financial Institutions 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
Ana Arsov
MD - Financial Institutions
Financial Institutions 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