Credit ratings agency Moody’s has placed the senior secured rating on RWH Finance Pty Ltd’s AUD145 million indexed annuity bonds (IABs) on review for upgrade
Credit rating agency Moody’s had, on 10 July 2017, placed the senior secured rating on RWH Finance Pty Ltd’s AUD145 million indexed annuity bonds (IABs) on review for upgrade. This follows the progress achieved by RWH in arranging the refinancing of its AUD148 million of nominal bonds.
Moody's expects a material strengthening in RWH's financial flexibility after refinancing, which will result from the fully amortising debt structure - and the absence of refinancing risk - coupled with higher debt service coverage ratios of 1.155x. The proposed refinancing of the nominal bonds will mainly be funded by new fully amortising senior secured bank debt facility, and as such, would remove the project's existing exposure to refinancing risk, which was a key constraining factor for the rating.
The rating agency expects the rating of the IABs will likely be upgraded multiple notches on completion of its refinancing process.
The review for upgrade on the IABs also depends on refinancing of the nominal bonds, which is subject to approvals from the State of Victoria, IAB holders and RWH’s shareholder, BBGI SICAV SA (BBGI), an LSE-listed infrastructure investment company.
We expect the refinancing process to most likely complete sometime in August 2017.