| Tue 27 Jul 2004, 11:04 | | Moody's assigns international investment grade rat |
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IMPERIAL HOLDINGS LIMITED - MOODY`S ASSIGNS INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT GRADE
RATINGS TO IMPERIAL HOLDINGS
Imperial Holdings Limited
Registration number: 1946/021048/06
(`Imperial`)
Share code: IPL
ISIN: ZAE000003620
Moody`s assigns international investment grade ratings to Imperial Holdings
(South Africa)
Moody`s Investor Services (Moody`s) announced today that it has assigned
international scale Baa1 local currency and Baa2 foreign currency issuer ratings
to Imperial Group (Pty) Ltd, fully and unconditionally guaranteed by Imperial
Holdings Ltd (Imperial).
Moody`s has also assigned long and short-term issuer National Scale Ratings
(NSR) of Aa3.za and Prime-1.za, respectively.
`The credit ratings assigned by Moody`s are an important part of Imperial`s
capital market funding strategy. As a result of achieving an investment grade
international rating for foreign currency obligations, which is the same level
as the South African government and major South African parastatals, Imperial
will be able to efficiently raise funding locally and offshore, should the need
arise.` said Bill Lynch, Imperial CEO.
Hubert Brody, the Group Treasurer at Imperial Holdings explained: `Credit
ratings are used by investors as indicators of the likelihood that a company
would timeously meet its debt obligations. Credit ratings are firstly
differentiated between short term and long term ratings, and thereafter between
national scale ratings and ratings on the international scale. International
scale ratings are differentiated between local and foreign currency ratings.
Moody`s` rating scale have a range from Aaa, which is the highest quality debt,
to C, which indicates a strong likelihood of default. All A-ratings and Baa-
ratings are classified as investment grade, placing Imperial Holdings in an
investment grade category in respects of all its ratings. It also obtained a
Prime-1.za short term rating which indicates the highest quality of short term
credit available on a domestic currency basis in South Africa.`
Imperial Holdings has been a consistent issuer of corporate paper in the
domestic capital and money markets, with R 2.6 billion in corporate bonds in
issue and R2.2 billion in commercial paper, with a tenor of up to one year, in
issue. The corporate bonds were issued over different maturities, the latest
bond, IPL3, being issued during November 2003 for a period of seven years.
The Moody`s rating follows shortly after the recent rating announcement by CA-
Ratings, which placed Imperial Holdings on a long term rating of AA+, the
highest long term rating issued yet by CA ratings.
Bill Lynch concluded, `The executive management team welcome the Moody`s rating
awarded to Imperial. As a diversified and highly integrated Group operating
within the mobility and transport sector, Imperial is exposed to different
business drivers and levels of risk across each division. This rating confirms
that each business and its risks are effectively managed to enhance
profitability and create value.`
-ends-
27 July 2004
Issued by Brunswick SA 011 268 5750
Contacts:
Hubert Brody, Group Treasurer 011 372 6505
Bill Lynch, CEO of Imperial 011 372 6500
Date: 27/07/2004 10:59:03 AM
Produced by the JSE SENS Department
