Moody's may up Telemig, Amazônia

Moody's Investors Service said it changed the direction of the review of the B2 foreign currency rating of the $ 120 million senior unsecured notes issued by Telemig Celular SA and Amazônia Celular SA to review for possible upgrade from review for possible downgrade.

The agency said that the change in direction of the review follows the announcement that Vivo Participacões SA reached an agreement to buy control of Telemig and Amazônia.

The transaction is subject to the approvals of regulators and shareholders. Moody's said it, however, believes that both regulatory and shareholder approvals should not face major obstacles.

"Despite the fact that Amazônia continues to face operating, competitive and liquidity challenges, with still nearly 50% of its debt concentrated in the short-term, Moody's decision to place its ratings on review for possible upgrade reflects the foreseen scale benefits of being part of Vivo, the largest Brazilian mobile network with a significantly stronger credit profile", said Moody's AVP-analyst Soummo Mukherjee.

"Amazônia's operations should benefit from better purchasing power for handsets and network equipment, for instance and Vivo has already identified a significant amount of fiscal and operating synergies for the combined entity going forward."

© 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.