{"id":19709,"date":"2012-09-12T01:41:32","date_gmt":"2012-09-12T05:41:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.prefblog.com\/?p=19709"},"modified":"2012-09-12T01:41:32","modified_gmt":"2012-09-12T05:41:32","slug":"baf-downgraded-to-pfd-3-by-dbrs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/?p=19709","title":{"rendered":"BAF Downgraded to Pfd-3 by DBRS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>DBRS <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dbrs.com\/research\/250770\/dbrs-downgrades-bell-aliant-to-r-2-middle-bbb-and-pfd-3-all-with-stable-trends.html\">has announced<\/a> that it:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>has today downgraded Bell Aliant Regional Communications, Limited Partnership\u2019s (Bell Aliant\u2019s or the Company\u2019s) Commercial Paper rating to R-2 (middle) from R-1 (low), Senior Unsecured Debt to BBB from BBB (high) and Preferred Shares to Pfd-3 from Pfd-3 (high), all with Stable trends. This action removes the ratings from Under Review with Negative Implications. This downgrade follows DBRS\u2019s reassessment of the risks associated with the Company\u2019s transformational strategy while the Stable trends reflect DBRS\u2019s view that the Company\u2019s fibre strategy presents a viable initiative with strong potential.<br \/><b>&#8230;<\/b><br \/>On August 2, 2012, DBRS noted that it recognizes the merits of Bell Aliant\u2019s fibre expansion; however, it acknowledges that the transition will also not be without risk. In its review, DBRS focused on (1) Bell Aliant\u2019s growth prospects within its new business lines; (2) the size and pace of the Company\u2019s capital program and overall financing requirements, in light of management\u2019s commitment to its dividend; and (3) the competitive environment, including pricing strategies and the threat of product innovation.<\/p>\n<p>Although Bell Aliant continues to grow its fibre footprint and increase its IP subscriber base, the long-term effects of the rollout on consolidated revenue and EBITDA growth remain difficult to gauge. The Company\u2019s FibreOP services are just beginning to generate positive EBITDA, while declining traditional local and long distance revenue still account for the majority of Bell Aliant\u2019s current operating profits.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.prefblog.com\/?p=19405\">Review Negative announcement<\/a> was reported on PrefBlog.<\/p>\n<p>The text of press release doesn\u2019t mention their preferred share issuing arm, Bell Aliant Preferred Equity Inc., specifically, but its preferred shares are specifically placed under Review-Negative in the appended table.<\/p>\n<p>Bell Aliant Preferred Equity Inc. has two issues outstanding: BAF.PR.A and BAF.PR.C. Both are FixedResets, both are relegated to the Scraps index on credit concerns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DBRS has announced that it: has today downgraded Bell Aliant Regional Communications, Limited Partnership\u2019s (Bell Aliant\u2019s or the Company\u2019s) Commercial Paper rating to R-2 (middle) from R-1 (low), Senior Unsecured Debt to BBB from BBB &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-issue-comments"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19709\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}