Bangkok--3 Nov--Standard & Poor's
The count of issuers poised for upgrades has risen by nine since our previous report to a total of 271. This exceeds the trailing-12-month average by 45 and continues the trend that we have seen every month this year--except for July--of an uptick in upgrade potential, said an article published today by Standard & Poor's, titled "Upgrade Potential Across Credit Grades And Sectors (Premium)."
We define potential upgrades as issuers that have either a positive outlook or ratings on CreditWatch with positive implications across rating categories 'AA+' to 'B-'.
Since our previous report, we added 71 issuers to our list of potential upgrades and removed 62.
"The current count of potential bond upgrades is much higher than the five-year low of 136 issuers in March 2009," said Diane Vazza, head of Standard & Poor's Global Fixed Income Research. "Along with this, the number of potential bond downgrades is currently at 532 entities, down from its record high of 1,028 in April 2009."
Potential bond upgrades belonging to the 'B' rating category--including the 'B+', 'B', and 'B-' rating designations--continue to lead the list of potential upgrades, constituting 45% of the total. The 'BB' and 'BBB' rating categories follow, accounting for 25% and 23%, respectively, of the total pool.
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Media Contact:
Ana Sandoval, New York (1) 212-438-5095,
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Analyst Contact:
Diane Vazza, New York (1) 212-438-2760