S&P could cut Qatar Telecom

Standard & Poor's said it placed its A/A-1 long- and short-term corporate credit ratings on Qatar Telecom QSC on CreditWatch with negative implications.

The CreditWatch placement follows Qatar Telecom's announcement that it made a binding offer to acquire 53% in Maroc Telecom from Vivendi.

S&P said the CreditWatch placement reflects the likelihood that it could lower the rating on Qatar Telecom if, as a result of the acquisition, Qatar Telecom's leverage exceeded the maximum ratings-commensurate ratio of consolidated debt to EBITDA of 2 times.

Qatar Telecom's leverage is already very close to this level, so any meaningful debt increases from the acquisition will lead to a downgrade, S&P said.

© 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.