Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, TUE, MARCH 03 2020-theG&BJournal- Fitch Ratings (“Fitch”) has assigned the 814 MUSD 5.95% p.a. senior secured Bonds due 2039 (“ACWA 39″) a ‘BBB-‘ rating with a ‘Stable’ outlook.
The Bond, issued in May 2017 by ACWA Power’s wholly owned DIFC-incorporated subsidiary, APMI1 One, is secured by cash flows and other security from a diversified cross-section of eight ACWA Power projects in Saudi Arabia as well as from NOMAC, ACWA Power’s wholly owned operations & maintenance company. Being strategically located in the western and eastern provinces of the Kingdom, each of these eight assets is critical to Saudi Arabia’s power and water infrastructure. At the time of its issuance, ACWA 39 was the largest and the first investment grade private sector dollar bond offering by a private sector KSA company.
ACWA 39 carried two Investment Grade (“IG”) ratings assigned by both Moody’s and S&P until October 2019 when S&P rating was brought down by one notch as a result of S&P’s legal jurisdiction review of Dubai International Financial Centre (“DIFC”) , effectively creating a split-rating situation for ACWA 39.
With full confidence in the strength of underlying business fundamentals of ACWA 39’s portfolio, ACWA Power’s response has been to approach Fitch to obtain a new rating for the Bond. Following their review, Fitch publicly announced in February 2020 APMI One’s ACWA 39 Bond’s ‘BBB-‘rating with ‘Stable’ outlook.
Mr. Nanda continued: “ACWA 39 has provided us with the ideal launch platform for our upcoming project and corporate finance needs for which RegS/144A and other international issuances as well as those in Saudi Arabia’s Debt Capital Market will be our mainstay.”
APMI One’s ACWA 39 Bond currently has 2 IG ratings with Fitch’s “BBB-’ and Moody’s ‘Baa3’, both with ‘Stable’ outlook. Subsequently, APMI One has withdrawn related ratings with S&P.
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