Moody’s slices SES ratings

Moody's Investors Service said it downgraded to Baa3 from Baa2 the long-term issuer rating and to ba1 from baa3 the baseline credit assessment of SES SA.

The agency downgraded to Baa3 from Baa2 the backed senior unsecured ratings, and downgraded to provisional Baa3 from provisional Baa2 the backed senior unsecured medium-term not program ratings of SES and its subsidiary SES Global Americas Holdings GP.

Moody's downgraded to Ba2 from Ba1 the backed junior subordinated hybrid ratings of SES, and to Prime-3 from Prime-2 the short-term backed commercial paper ratings of SES and SES Global Americas.

The outlook for both entities has changed to stable from negative.

“The downgrade to Baa3 reflects the prolonged deterioration in SES's credit metrics due to the lower earnings owing to the challenging operating environment for satellite operators, combined with high capex in 2022 and bolt-on M&A,” Ernesto Bisagno, a Moody's analyst, said in a news release.

“While SES has recently tightened its financial policy, this adjustment has been only marginal, and there is potential that a significant part of the $3 billion C-band proceeds will not be used for debt repayment, leaving leverage above our previous expectations.”

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