Fitch: Global Ports notes BB+

Fitch Ratings said it assigned a final senior unsecured rating of BB+ to Global Ports (Finance) plc's (GPI Finance) $350 million notes.

The outlook is stable.

GPI Finance has issued fixed-rate notes, which are unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by parent company Global Ports Investments plc and its three major operating subsidiaries, First Container Terminal Inc., JSC Petrolesport and Vostochnaya Stevedoring LLC.

The proceeds will be used to refinance existing indebtedness at operating company levels, Fitch said. The company’s consolidated leverage has not increased as a result of this transaction, the agency added.

The ratings reflect the group’s dominant position in the Russian container market, Fitch said, as well as the group's exposure to the current domestic economic downturn.

The ratings also consider an expectation that the company’s leverage will progressively decline from current fairly high levels due to a shareholder-supported zero-dividend policy, the agency said.

Lack of committed liquidity is a weakness given the partly back-ended debt structure and the increasing bullet profile of group debt, Fitch said.

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