Fitch rates MarkWest Energy loan BB+

Fitch Ratings said it assigned a BB+ rating to MarkWest Energy Partners, LP's $700 million secured revolving credit facility. The company has a long-term issuer default rating at BB, senior secured debt of BB+, senior secured revolver of BB+ and senior unsecured debt of BB.

The outlook is stable.

The five-year, $700 million revolver closed will mature July 1, 2015. The revolver replaced MarkWest's $435.6 million revolver that was due to mature in February 2012. The larger size and longer tenor of the new revolver improve MarkWest's financial flexibility and are expected to adequately meet the company's liquidity needs, Fitch said.

The ratings are supported by the company's increased fee-based revenue sources and layered hedging strategy, which have helped decrease cash flow volatility and provide greater cash flow predictability, Fitch said.

Constraints include the significant percentage of non-fee-based cash flows from keep-whole and percent-of-proceeds arrangements, a proxy hedging strategy that is exposed to the periodic breakdown in the correlation between crude oil and natural gas liquids prices and environmental concerns, the agency said.

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