Moody's rates Williams Partners note Ba3

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned a Ba3 senior unsecured rating to Williams Partners LP's proposed $600 million note offering, the terms and conditions of which are substantially the same as the existing $150 million notes issued in June.

The Ba3 corporate family rating was affirmed, and the outlook is stable.

Williams Partners plans to use the proceeds from this offering to fund a portion of the purchase price of the remaining 74.9% interest in Williams Four Corners LLC from its parent, The Williams Cos., Inc. Total funding is expected to consist of $350 million of privately placed equity, $270 million of public equity, $30 million of retained B units and General Partner contributions and the proceeds from this $600 million note offering.

The agency said it views this transaction as neutral overall for Williams Partners' credit profile, as increased scale and fee-based revenue is offset by greater concentration risk and higher leverage. The additional interest in Four Corners will add to the company's size, roughly doubling its assets, and adding the other 74.9% the company does not already own will reduce the complexity associated with a significant portion of William Partners' assets accounted for under the equity method.

Leverage, based on last-12-months data through Sept. 30 and pro forma for the acquisition, is expected to be 3.6x.

© 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.