S&P may up Westport Resources

Standard & Poor's said it placed its long-term BB corporate credit rating on oil and gas exploration and production company Westport Resources Corp. on CreditWatch with positive implications.

The rating action follows the announced $3.4 billion all-stock merger between Westport and Kerr-McGee Corp. (BBB/Watch negative/A-3).

S&P said the positive CreditWatch listing for Westport reflects the superior credit strength of Kerr-McGee and the strong likelihood for a ratings upgrade if the merger is successful. In commenting on Kerr-McGee, S&P credit analyst John Thieroff stated that if a downgrade to Kerr-McGee's' ratings occurs, it would almost certainly be limited to one notch.

Such an action to Kerr-McGee would still result in a positive rating action for Westport when the merger is complete. S&P said it will resolve the CreditWatch listings on Kerr-McGee and Westport after meeting with the management of the merged company in the near term.

© 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.