Bangkok--22 Jun--Standard & Poor's
Since last month's report on potential fallen angels, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has downgraded three companies to speculative grade from investment grade.
"These three downgrades bring the number of global fallen angels in 2011, through June 8, to 21, one more than the total in full-year 2010," said Diane Vazza, head of Standard & Poor's Global Fixed Income Research. "The fallen angels in 2011 account for US$219.4 billion, or ?152.2 billion, in rated debt. This total is significantly more than the US$60.6 billion, or ?42.1 billion, in rated debt attributable to the 19 rising stars--issuers upgraded to investment grade--that have emerged so far this year."
The three new fallen angels since our most recent report are U.S.-based R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. and ACOM Co. Ltd. and Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc. (TEPCO) from Japan, according to the article, titled "Global Fallen Angels: Total In The First Half Of 2011 Surpasses All Of 2010." R.R. Donnelley & Sons and ACOM were on the potential fallen angels list last month.
TEPCO is the largest fallen angel to date in 2011, with ?5.2 trillion ($64.6 billion) of rated debt.
Although the count of fallen angels in 2011 exceeds the full-year 2010 total, the size of this year's downgrades lags that of last year's. The fallen angels in 2011 account for US$219.4 (?152.2) billion in rated debt, which is less than the US$417 billion in rated debt for the 2010 fallen angels. In 2010, the sovereign downgrade of the Hellenic Republic (Greece) accounted for 80% of the debt volume.
The global tally of potential fallen angels fell to 47 as of June 8, a decrease of four from our most recent report. These issuers have a total of US$343.1 (?238.1) billion in rated debt. Potential fallen angels are issuers rated 'BBB-' with either negative outlooks or ratings on CreditWatch negative.
The report is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect on the Global Credit Portal at www.globalcreditportal.com. If you are not a RatingsDirect subscriber, you may purchase a copy of the report by calling (1) 212-438-7280 or sending an e-mail to
[email protected]. Ratings information can also be found on Standard & Poor's public Web site by using the Ratings search box located in the left column at www.standardandpoors.com. Members of the media may request a copy of this report by contacting the media representative provided.
Media Contact:
Jeff Sexton, New York (1) 212-438-3448,
[email protected]
Analyst Contacts:
Diane Vazza, New York (1) 212-438-2760