[080313.EN.SEA] S&P Upgrades CMA CGM Credit In Wake Of Refinancing, Restructuring

CREDIT agency Standard & Poor's has lifted French shipping giant CMA CGM's rating from 'CCC'+ to "B'- while leaving the Marseille-based company on "Credit Watch with positive implications" after its refinancing and restructuring.

"The finalisation of the debt restructuring, combined with new equity injection from FSI [French Fonds Strategique d'Investissement] and Yildirim Group and the sale of 49 per cent of Terminal Link, will allow CMA CGM to operate with the required financial flexibility and constitutes key milestones before contemplating an IPO," said CMA CGM chief executive Rodolphe Saade. 

This credit rating could be upgraded once CMA CGM completes its disposal of its Terminal Link stakes to Hong Kong-listed China Merchants Holdings for EUR400 million (US$520.8 million) and finalises a re-financing deal with Turkey's Yildirim Group and the French sovereign fund FSI.

S&P noted that the company's positive operating cash flow of US$395 million for the first nine months of 2012 compared favourably with the $25 million in the same period the year before, reported London's Containerisation International.

But S&P also warned it could "lower the ratings if the disposal or equity deal were delayed or did not materialise".

Source : HKSG, 05.03.13.