Fitch affirms SingTel Optus

Fitch Ratings said it affirmed SingTel Optus Pty. Ltd.'s long-term issuer default rating and senior debt rating at A. The outlook is stable.

The agency said the strong ties between the company and its parent, Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (A+/stable), lead to an equalization of SingTel Optus' rating with Singapore Telecommunications' standalone credit rating of A.

The linkage between the two companies is regarded as strong, but Fitch said SingTel Optus' rating does not benefit from any uplift associated with sovereign support from Singapore's state-owned enterprise Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd., the 54% owner of Singapore Telecommunications. SingTel Optus' assets are not, in Fitch's view, as critical to the Singapore economy as Singapore Telecommunications' domestic fixed line and mobile infrastructure.

On a standalone basis, Fitch would rate SingTel Optus A-. The agency said this rating is underpinned by the company's entrenched No. 2. position in Australia's mobile, fixed voice and fixed internet markets.

© 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.