Moody's upgrades Bharti

Moody's Investors Service said it assigned an investment-grade Baa3 issuer rating to Bharti Airtel Ltd. and withdrew the company's high-yield Ba1 corporate family rating. The agency also upgraded to Baa3 from Ba1 the senior unsecured debt rating on the bonds issued by Bharti and on the backed senior unsecured notes issued by Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV. Moody's concurrently changed the outlook to stable from positive.

"The rating upgrade reflects the continued strengthening of Bharti's operational metrics as well as the stabilization of its financial profile, including lower leverage levels and improving profitability," said Annalisa Di Chiara, a Moody's senior vice president, in a press release.

"Moreover, we expect that these improvements can be sustained given Bharti's solid market position, rising profitability at its core Indian mobile business and prudent financial management," Di Chiara added.

The outlook reflects Bharti's improving operating profile credit metrics, including an expectation of increasing free cash flows and liquidity over the next 12-24 months, particularly at the core Indian operations, Moody’s said.

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