S&P gives Duke Energy notes A-

S&P said it assigned an A- rating to Duke Energy Progress LLC's series A floating-rate notes due 2022.

“The notes will be direct, senior unsecured, unsubordinated obligations, ranking equally with all of its other senior unsecured and unsubordinated indebtedness from time to time outstanding. As such, we rate this issue A- because we view it as debt issued by a qualifying investment-grade regulated utility, consistent with our criteria,” S&P said in a press release.

Duke intends to use the proceeds to repay its borrowings under its unrated two-year term loan facility ($700 million) expiring in December 2020.

Moody's assigns Cummins notes A2

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned an A2 rating to Cummins, Inc.'s issuance of senior unsecured notes.

Cummins' current A2 long-term rating and stable outlook are unaffected by the issuance, Moody’s said.

Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes and to reduce commercial paper.

“Moody's expects that by 2021 Cummins will begin restoring credit metrics and cash generation to historically robust levels following the operating stress resulting from the coronavirus-driven downturn in its core markets,” the agency said in a press release.

S&P assigns Cummins notes A+

S&P said it assigned its A+ issue-level rating to Cummins Inc.'s proposed senior unsecured notes.

“For the purposes of our analysis, we assume that the company will issue between $1.5 billion and $2 billion of these notes in multiple tranches due 2025, 2030 and 2050,” S&P said in a press release.

The agency said it expects Cummins to use the proceeds to repay a portion of its commercial paper and hold the rest for added liquidity.

“Therefore, we expect the transaction to be largely leverage neutral,” S&P said.

S&P cuts Accor to junk

S&P said it downgraded Accor SA and its unsecured notes to BB+ from BBB- and lowered the ratings on its hybrid instruments to B+ from BB. The agency also removed all the ratings from CreditWatch negative, where S&P placed them on June 1.

“We now consider that demand for hotel rooms could fall by about 50%-60% in 2020 and 30% in 2021, versus 2019 levels. This would result in negative EBITDA for Accor in 2020, and substantially lower EBITDA than we previously expected, of €180 million, including restructuring costs, together with weak free operating cash flow in 2021,” S&P said in a press release.

The outlook is negative.

S&P trims Doctors Co.

S&P said it downgraded its rating for the Doctors Co. to BBB+ from A- and the rating on the company’s $200 million subordinated notes due Oct. 2023 to BBB- from BBB.

“The downgrade reflects the firm's diminished financial risk profile assessment stemming from recent deal activity and an updated capital and earnings forecast for less-robust development than our prior expectations,” S&P said in a press release.

The outlook is stable.

S&P ups ON Semiconductor, notes BB

S&P said it upgraded ON Semiconductor Corp. and its senior secured debt to BB+. The agency also upgraded the company’s notes to BB and assigned a BB rating to ON’s planned offering of $500 million of senior unsecured notes.

“The upgrade is driven by our expectation that ON Semiconductor's performance will improve over the next 12 months, as well as our view that the company will maintain leverage below 3x while pursuing its acquisition and share buyback plans. The upgrade is also supported by ON Semiconductor's business scale and diversity, and our expectation that the company will generate free cash flow of $600 million or more over the next 12 months,” S&P said in a press release.

Proceeds and cash on hand will be used to pay down about $1 billion of its revolving credit facility.

The outlook is stable.

DBRS alters Belgium trend to negative

DBRS said it confirmed Belgium’s long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer ratings at AA (high) and changed the trend to negative from stable.

The trend reflects DBRS’ view a combination of economic, fiscal and policy factors has tilted the risks to the ratings to the downside.

“Firstly, potentially lasting effects on the economy, brought about by the shock from the global coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, could lead to persistent large fiscal deficits and keep the government debt ratio at a very high level in the coming years. The economy is set to contract sharply in 2020 and the pace of the economic recovery is uncertain, in part due to the risk of resurgence in the number of coronavirus cases. Belgium also entered the crisis with limited fiscal space compared to some of its European peers and its public debt ratio is set to deteriorate substantially to close to 120% of GDP by the end of 2020,” the agency said in a press release.

Moody's assigns Baa2 to Dow notes

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned Baa2 ratings to Dow Chemical Co.'s $2 billion of senior unsecured notes due 2030 and 2050.

Proceeds are expected to be used to refinance a similar amount of debt, including its $1.25 billion term loan due 2023.

"Dow is taking advantage of the low-interest-rate environment to extend maturities and keep interest costs low," stated John Rogers, a Moody’s senior vice president in a press release. "Credit metrics are likely to remain very weak relative to 2019 despite the expectation for a substantial improvement in performance in the back half of the year from second-quarter levels."

The outlook is stable.

Fitch assigns Dow notes BBB+

Fitch Ratings said it assigned a BBB+ rating to Dow Chemical Co.’s new $1 billion of senior unsecured 10-year notes and $1 billion of senior unsecured 30-year notes.

Proceeds will be used to redeem the company's $1.25 billion term loan facility, with the remainder used for cash tenders for debt associated with Rohm and Haas Co. and Union Carbide Corp., as well as other repayments of indebtedness.

The outlook is negative.

Moody's assigns Honeywell notes A2

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned A2 ratings to Honeywell International Inc.'s new senior unsecured notes due 2022.

The notes do not affect Honeywell’s other ratings, including the A2 senior unsecured rating, Moody’s said.

“Honeywell's A2 senior unsecured debt ratings reflect the company's very large portfolio of businesses that contribute strong and stable operating profit from each segment,” Moody’s said in a press release.

The outlook is stable.

Fitch rates Honeywell notes A

Fitch Ratings said it assigned an A rating to Honeywell International Inc.'s planned senior unsecured notes.

The offering will consist of fixed- and floating-rate notes with two-year maturities.

Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including reducing the term loan by the amount of the new issuance.

The outlook is stable.

S&P rates Intercontinental Exchange notes BBB+

S&P said that it assigned its BBB+ issue rating to Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.'s proposed senior notes offering of about $5 billion, with maturities in 2023, 2032, 2040 and 2060 as well as floating-rate notes due 2023.

Along with other debt sources, commercial paper issuance and a senior unsecured term loan, and equity, the company will use the proceeds to finance a portion of the $11 billion purchase price for its recent acquisition of Ellie Mae

“Based on draft terms, our BBB+ issue rating on the notes is in line with our BBB+ long-term issuer credit rating on ICE,” S&P said in a press release.

The outlook is negative.

Fitch assigns Oglethorpe Power bonds BBB+

Fitch Ratings said it assigned its BBB+ rating to about $450 million of first mortgage bonds, series 2020A being issued by Oglethorpe Power Corp.

Proceeds will be used to fund a portion of the company's capital plan and pay costs of issuance.

The bonds are expected to price this week.

The outlook is negative.

Moody rates ON notes Ba2

Moody's Investors Service said it rated ON Semiconductor Corp.'s new senior unsecured notes due 2028 at Ba2; upgraded the speculative grade liquidity rating to SGL-1; and affirmed ON Semi's other ratings, including the Ba1 corporate family rating.

ON plans to use the proceeds plus balance sheet cash to repay about $1 billion of the nearly $2 billion outstanding under the senior secured revolving credit facility. “Pro forma for the new notes and the revolver repayment, leverage should decline from about 4.8x adjusted debt to EBITDA (12 months ended July 3) to about 4.3x,” Moody’s said in a press release.

Moody's said it expects ON to repay the 1% convertible senior notes due Dec.1, with cash balances. Pro forma for the repayment of the convertibles, leverage would be lowered by an added 0.6 turns to about 3.7x adjusted debt to EBITDA (12 months ended July 3).

Moody's assigns Waypoint notes Baa1

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned a Baa1 rating to the senior unsecured notes issued by VER Finco Pty Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Waypoint REIT Ltd., also rated Baa1.

The notes will rank pari passu with Waypoint REIT’s other senior unsecured debt.

“The Baa1 rating assigned to the notes reflects Waypoint REIT's geographically diversified and good quality asset base that provides the REIT with stable and predictable cash flows. As of June 30, 2020, the REIT owned 474 service station and convenience retail properties across Australia, primarily located in metropolitan areas,” Moody’s said in a press release.

The outlook is stable.

Moody's gives Cheniere Corpus Christi bond Baa3

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned a Baa3 rating to Cheniere Corpus Christi Holdings, LLC's $768.7 million of fully amortizing 3.52% senior secured notes due 2039. These securities rank on parity with CCH's outstanding senior secured debt.

With the completion of this offering, CCH's capital structure includes three series of fully amortizing notes totaling about $2 billion with annual amortization requirements beginning 2027 and running through 2039, the agency said.

Proceeds will be used to refinance and retire a similar amount outstanding under CCH's $3.3 billion term loan due June 2024

The outlook is stable.

Fitch gives RBC New York AA

Fitch Ratings said it assigned an AA issuer default rating to the Royal Bank of Canada New York Branch with a negative outlook.

The branch’s rating and outlook directly mirror those of the Royal Bank of Canada, Fitch said.

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