Moody’s assigns Entel notes Baa2

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned a Baa2 rating to Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones SA’s (Entel) proposed issuance of up to $800 million senior notes with amortizations of $400 million in 2025 and 2026.

The outlooks were changed to negative from stable.

Moody’s said the Baa2 ratings are supported by the company's leading market position in Chile, where it is one of the largest wireless services providers with a 32% subscriber market. The company's high quality subscriber base and state of the art technology also support solid revenue growth and EBITDA margins.

Entel's ratings are constrained by rising leverage, negative free cash flow resulting from historically high dividend payouts and increasing capex needs as the company grows its presence through Nextel Peru.

The ratings also incorporate Entel's constrained liquidity position, operations within a highly competitive environment and the company's small scale relative to global industry peers, Moody’s 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.