KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Rating Corp Bhd (MARC) has assigned AAA IS (bg) and AAA IS (fg) to RANHILL BHD [] unit Ranhill Power Sdn Bhd's RM800 million Islamic debt notes with a stable outlook.
MARC said on Monday, April 25 it accorded the ratings of AAA IS (bg) to the bank-guaranteed sukuk and AAA IS (fg) to the Danajamin Nasional Bhd guaranteed sukuk to be issued under Ranhill Power's RM800 million Sukuk Musharakah facility.
The bank-guaranteed sukuk of up to RM300 million (Tranche 1) will have tenures up to eight years while the Danajamin-guaranteed sukuk of up to RM500 million (Tranche 2) will have tenures ranging from nine to 15 years.
The proceeds from the sukuk offerings will be mostly on lent to Ranhill Bhd to redeem its US$220.0 million notes issue maturing in October 2011. The issuance of the sukuk will mitigate the refinancing risk related to Ranhill Bhd's upcoming debt maturities and related liquidity concerns.
The rating assigned to Tranche 1 reflects the credit strength of an unconditional and irrevocable guarantee provided by Maybank Islamic Bhd (MIB), which MARC currently rates AAA/Stable.
The rating assigned to Tranche 2 reflects the credit strength of an unconditional and irrevocable Kafalah Guarantee provided by Danajamin Nasional Bhd, also rated AAA/Stable by MARC.
MARC said Ranhill is involved mainly in the water, power, infrastructure, petroleum and chemicals business segments.
Ranhill Power is also the intermediate holding company for the group's power generation projects. A significant proportion of future cash flow available to service the rated debt is expected to come from dividends distributed by SAJ Holdings Sdn Bhd (SAJH), a potable water provider in the state of Johor. Ranhill holds an effective 56% share in SAJH through its 70%-owned Ranhill Utilities Sdn Bhd.
Dividend distributions from two independent power generation projects located in the state of Sabah are also expected to support repayment of the sukuk.
The sukuk is subordinated to obligations of the power generation project companies, Ranhill Powertron Sdn Bhd (RPI) and Ranhill Powertron II Sdn Bhd (RPII).
The debt structure creates a high degree of linkage between the standalone credit profile of the rated sukuk and Ranhill, which will instruct these subsidiaries to make all payments including, but not limited to dividends, directly into a designated revenue account. With respect to its Tranche 1 and Tranche 2 sukuk, Ranhill is required to maintain a finance service cover ratio (FSCR) of 1.50 times for calendar years 2012 and 2013, and 1.75 times thereafter.
Ranhill's ability to raise additional debt at the holding company level is subject to its maintenance of a debt-to-EBITDA ratio of not more than five times from year 3 onwards.
'The covenant package will provide meaningful downside protection from large debt-financed acquisitions or investments by Ranhill which could weaken debt protection measures and entail higher business risk,' it said.
As the ultimate holding company for infrastructure businesses, Ranhill receives residual cash flow sourced from dividends and capital repayments from its subsidiaries, which MARC regards as less reliable than direct access to operating cash flows.
Nevertheless, this risk is partly offset by the stable utility-like characteristics of the current and expected income stream of SAJH, RPI and RPII.
As Johor's only distributor of potable water, SAJH continues to retain a robust financial profile after migrating to a new licensing regime. The new regime provides SAJH with stable cash flow generation without having to shoulder sizeable capital expenditure obligations and associated debt.
The licence is subject to renewal every three years; licence renewal risk is, nonetheless, currently moderated by SAJH's good operating track record.
The dividend upstreaming capacity of RPI and RPII, meanwhile, is underpinned by the favorable long-term offtake arrangements with the state's electricity utility company, Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd, and strong demand fundamentals of the two gas-fired combined cycle power plants which have a total generating capacity of 380MW.
Cash flows from RPI and RPII are, however, sensitive to changes over time in operational performance.
MARC notes the company's assumption of no dividends from RPI prior to the fiscal year ending June 2014 in its base case financial projections.
Likewise, the company expects minimal cash flow from RPII to be available to support debt service on the rated sukuk up to fiscal year 2016. The modest debt amortisation requirements prior to year 4 mitigate the risk of a draw on Ranhill's debt service reserve funds.
Financial projections demonstrate that under most adverse conditions, adequate cash exists to service debt obligations.
The standalone credit profile of the rated sukuk is constrained by Ranhill's other non-infrastructure businesses which possess higher-than-average business risk profiles.
The guarantees provided by MIB and Danajamin insulate sukukholders from downside risks in relation to the creditworthiness of Ranhill and Ranhill Power, including significantly lower-than-expected residual cash flows to Ranhill against original base case projections.
MARC said on Monday, April 25 it accorded the ratings of AAA IS (bg) to the bank-guaranteed sukuk and AAA IS (fg) to the Danajamin Nasional Bhd guaranteed sukuk to be issued under Ranhill Power's RM800 million Sukuk Musharakah facility.
The bank-guaranteed sukuk of up to RM300 million (Tranche 1) will have tenures up to eight years while the Danajamin-guaranteed sukuk of up to RM500 million (Tranche 2) will have tenures ranging from nine to 15 years.
The proceeds from the sukuk offerings will be mostly on lent to Ranhill Bhd to redeem its US$220.0 million notes issue maturing in October 2011. The issuance of the sukuk will mitigate the refinancing risk related to Ranhill Bhd's upcoming debt maturities and related liquidity concerns.
The rating assigned to Tranche 1 reflects the credit strength of an unconditional and irrevocable guarantee provided by Maybank Islamic Bhd (MIB), which MARC currently rates AAA/Stable.
The rating assigned to Tranche 2 reflects the credit strength of an unconditional and irrevocable Kafalah Guarantee provided by Danajamin Nasional Bhd, also rated AAA/Stable by MARC.
MARC said Ranhill is involved mainly in the water, power, infrastructure, petroleum and chemicals business segments.
Ranhill Power is also the intermediate holding company for the group's power generation projects. A significant proportion of future cash flow available to service the rated debt is expected to come from dividends distributed by SAJ Holdings Sdn Bhd (SAJH), a potable water provider in the state of Johor. Ranhill holds an effective 56% share in SAJH through its 70%-owned Ranhill Utilities Sdn Bhd.
Dividend distributions from two independent power generation projects located in the state of Sabah are also expected to support repayment of the sukuk.
The sukuk is subordinated to obligations of the power generation project companies, Ranhill Powertron Sdn Bhd (RPI) and Ranhill Powertron II Sdn Bhd (RPII).
The debt structure creates a high degree of linkage between the standalone credit profile of the rated sukuk and Ranhill, which will instruct these subsidiaries to make all payments including, but not limited to dividends, directly into a designated revenue account. With respect to its Tranche 1 and Tranche 2 sukuk, Ranhill is required to maintain a finance service cover ratio (FSCR) of 1.50 times for calendar years 2012 and 2013, and 1.75 times thereafter.
Ranhill's ability to raise additional debt at the holding company level is subject to its maintenance of a debt-to-EBITDA ratio of not more than five times from year 3 onwards.
'The covenant package will provide meaningful downside protection from large debt-financed acquisitions or investments by Ranhill which could weaken debt protection measures and entail higher business risk,' it said.
As the ultimate holding company for infrastructure businesses, Ranhill receives residual cash flow sourced from dividends and capital repayments from its subsidiaries, which MARC regards as less reliable than direct access to operating cash flows.
Nevertheless, this risk is partly offset by the stable utility-like characteristics of the current and expected income stream of SAJH, RPI and RPII.
As Johor's only distributor of potable water, SAJH continues to retain a robust financial profile after migrating to a new licensing regime. The new regime provides SAJH with stable cash flow generation without having to shoulder sizeable capital expenditure obligations and associated debt.
The licence is subject to renewal every three years; licence renewal risk is, nonetheless, currently moderated by SAJH's good operating track record.
The dividend upstreaming capacity of RPI and RPII, meanwhile, is underpinned by the favorable long-term offtake arrangements with the state's electricity utility company, Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd, and strong demand fundamentals of the two gas-fired combined cycle power plants which have a total generating capacity of 380MW.
Cash flows from RPI and RPII are, however, sensitive to changes over time in operational performance.
MARC notes the company's assumption of no dividends from RPI prior to the fiscal year ending June 2014 in its base case financial projections.
Likewise, the company expects minimal cash flow from RPII to be available to support debt service on the rated sukuk up to fiscal year 2016. The modest debt amortisation requirements prior to year 4 mitigate the risk of a draw on Ranhill's debt service reserve funds.
Financial projections demonstrate that under most adverse conditions, adequate cash exists to service debt obligations.
The standalone credit profile of the rated sukuk is constrained by Ranhill's other non-infrastructure businesses which possess higher-than-average business risk profiles.
The guarantees provided by MIB and Danajamin insulate sukukholders from downside risks in relation to the creditworthiness of Ranhill and Ranhill Power, including significantly lower-than-expected residual cash flows to Ranhill against original base case projections.
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