Bangkok--30 Jul--Standard & Poor's
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it raised its senior unsecured issue-level ratings to 'BB-' on Ford Motor Co. (BB-/Pos/--) the same as the corporate credit rating, from 'B+'. The recovery rating was revised to '4', indicating our expectations of average (30% to 50%) recovery in the event of a default, from '5'. All other ratings are unaffected by this review of the recovery prospects for the senior unsecured debt at Ford. The upgrade of the unsecured issues reflects our view of the improved recovery prospects because of the ongoing decline in senior secured debt (partly offset by the increase in unrated second lien loans from the Department of Energy). At June 30, 2011, senior secured term debt had been reduced to $1.8 billion from $4.1 billion at March 31, 2011.
For additional information on Ford, see "Ford Motor Co. Second-Quarter Results Support Positive Outlook On Rating" published July 26, 2011, and the recovery report on Ford Motor Co. to be published following this release on RatingsDirect.
RELATED CRITERIA AND RESEARCH
Criteria Guidelines For Recovery Ratings On Global Industrials Issuers' Speculative-Grade Debt, Aug. 10, 2009 2008 Corporate Criteria: Rating Each Issue, April 15, 2008
RATINGS LIST
Ford Motor Co.
Corporate credit rating BB-/Positive/--
Ratings Upgraded, Recovery Revised To From
Senior unsecured debt BB- B+
Recovery rating 4 5
Complete ratings information is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect on the Global Credit Portal at www.globalcreditportal.com. All ratings affected by this rating action can be found on Standard & Poor's public Web site at www.standardandpoors.com. Use the Ratings search box located in the left column.
Media Contact:
Mimi Barker, New York (1) 212-438-5054,
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Analyst Contacts:
Robert Schulz, CFA, New York (1) 212-438-7808
Dan Picciotto, CFA, New York (1) 212-438-7894
Gregory Maddock, New York (1) 212-438-7205