South Canterbury Finance’s BB+ rating affirmed by S on funding progress
Dec. 24 (BusinessWire) - South Canterbury Finance Ltd., the finance company owned by Allan Hubbard, had its BB+ credit
rating affirmed by Standard & Poor’s, reflecting its access to debenture funding, new independent directors and clean financial statements.
S also affirmed South Canterbury’s short-term rating of B. The ratings were removed from CreditWatch Negative though the
outlook is negative, S said.
“SCF has been able to again access the debenture-investor market; it has sourced three new independent directors to
assist with the management of the company; it has been able to retain the confidence of its new private placement
investors as well as its debenture investors; and its audited financial statements for fiscal 2009 have revealed nothing
of concern,” credit analyst Derryl D’silva said in a statement.
Still, South Canterbury’s liquidity and asset quality were still weak for the current rating and the firm is only in the
early stages of addressing concerns about related-party investments, he said.
“Our immediate concern is that SCF maintain higher liquidity, leading up to its recapitalization plans” and its failure
to do so is likely o lead to a credit rating downgrade, D’silva said.
(BusinessWire)