Moody’s trims Enbridge

Moody's Ratings said it downgraded the senior unsecured ratings of Enbridge Inc. (Enbridge) and its subsidiaries Enbridge Energy Partners, LP (EEP), Enbridge Energy LP (EELP) and Spectra Energy Partners, LP (SEP) to Baa2 from Baa1.

The agency said it lowered the senior unsecured rating of Texas Eastern Transmission LP (Tetco) to Baa1 from A3 and changed the outlooks for Enbridge, EEP, EELP, SEP and Tetco to stable from negative.

"The downgrade of Enbridge and its related subsidiaries reflects the ongoing weakness in the company's financial profile," said Gavin MacFarlane, a Moody’s vice president and senior credit officer, in a press release.

"As Enbridge moves forward with several utility acquisitions and executes on a sizable capital program, we expect that the company will have low levels of financial flexibility and higher leverage," MacFarlane added.

The revised outlook reflects Enbridge’s large size, scale and low-risk asset base and an expectation that the company's consolidated debt to EBITDA will be about 5.5x and distribution coverage, using depreciation, will be between 0.9x and 1x for the next several years, Moody’s said.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.