Moody’s cuts Atlantia, units

Moody’s Investors Service said it downgraded to Ba1 from Baa3 the senior unsecured rating of Atlantia SpA. Atlantia is the holding company for Autostrade per l’Italia SpA and Aeroporti di Roma SpA.

Concurrently, Moody’s downgraded to Baa3 from Baa2 the issuer and senior unsecured ratings for Autostrade per l’Italia. Moody’s also confirmed the Baa2 senior unsecured and underlying senior secured ratings of Aeroporti di Roma. The outlook on all ratings is negative. This rating action concludes the review initiated on 4 July 2019.

The downgrade of Atlantia’s and Autostrade’s ratings reflects Moody’s view that downside risks are growing. The action follows last week’s temporary closure of bridges managed by ASPI over safety concerns and reflects that increased scrutiny of ASPI’s motorway assets could result in potentially significant added costs. Shortfalls in ASPI’s control functions would, if proven, undermine the operator’s credibility and weaken its position in discussions with the grantor over the future of its concession, and any potential renegotiation of the ASPI concession would likely result in less favorable terms, the agency said.

“The confirmation of ADR’s rating reflects Moody’s view that there is some delinkage from the wider group’s credit quality deriving from its debt structure and terms, as well as protections included in ADR’s concession contract,” Moody’s said in a press release.

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