Moody's ups MarkWest Energy

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded MarkWest Energy Partners, LP's corporate family rating and probability of default rating to Ba3 from B1 and upgraded the ratings on its senior unsecured notes to B1 (LGD4, 62%) from B2 (LGD4, 65%). The company's SGL-3 speculative grade liquidity rating remains unchanged.

The outlook is stable.

The upgrade reflects MarkWest's successful track record in executing its growth strategy, its increasing fee-based income and management's commitment to issuing equity, Moody's said.

With its focus on organic growth over the last few years, MarkWest has achieved increased scale and diversification indicative of a higher rating, the agency said.

The ratings are constrained by elevated financial leverage with a debt-to-EBITDA ratio for 2009 of 4.6x, Moody's said, although it is expected to decline in 2010 as cash flow grows.

© 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.