S&P ups OTE, rates notes B+

Standard & Poor's said it raised its long-term corporate credit rating on Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA (OTE) to B+ from B- and affirmed the B short-term corporate credit rating.

The outlook is stable.

S&P also assigned a B+ issue rating to the new €700 million unsecured notes due 2018 issued by OTE's financing vehicle OTE plc and raised the existing issue ratings on OTE's unsecured debt incurred by OTE plc to B+ from B-.

The rating action primarily reflects S&P's view that the group's liquidity profile has significantly improved as a result of a series of refinancing transactions in the past three months, including an unsecured bond issuance of €700 million on Jan. 30.

As a result, S&P said it now assesses OTE's liquidity profile as "adequate" under its criteria, compared with "less-than-adequate" previously, and S&P has raised its financial risk profile assessment to "aggressive" from "highly leveraged."

© 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.