S&P cuts Empresas Copec

Standard & Poor's said it lowered its ratings on Empresas Copec SA to BBB from BBB+. The outlook is stable.

The agency said the rating action follows its recent downgrade of Empresas' fuel distribution subsidiary, Compania de Petroleos de Chile Copec SA, to BBB from BBB+.

In S&P's view, as an industrial holding company, the credit quality of Empresas' main operating subsidiaries, Copec and Celulosa Arauco y Constitucion SA, limit credit quality.

The agency said it continues to assess E-Copec's business risk profile as satisfactory and financial risk profile as intermediate.

"The company's good-quality assets, conservative approach to leverage at the holding company level, prudent investment strategy and very good financial flexibility underpin its credit quality and partly insulate it from the inherent volatility of the pulp and wood-related products business, carried out by its subsidiary Arauco," said S&P credit analyst Cecilia Fullone in a news release.

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