Bangkok--20 Oct--Standard & Poor's
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services assigned its 'A' rating to the California Health Facilities Financing Authority's (CHFFA) $349.9 million series 2011A fixed-rate revenue bonds and the Arizona Health Facilities Authority's $126.1 million series 2011B fixed-rate revenue bonds, both issued for Catholic Healthcare West (CHW), Calif. As part of the 2011 issuance, CHFFA expects to issue its $75 million series 2011B and $75 million series 2011C variable-rate demand bonds (VRDBs), which are expected to be supported by letters of credit (LOCs) provided by Bank of Montreal. We expect to issue dual ratings on these bonds based solely on the ratings of the LOC provider in the next 30 days
At the same time, we affirmed our 'A' long-term rating and underlying rating (SPUR) on tax-exempt bonds outstanding (various series and various issuers) issued on behalf of CHW. The outlook on the 'A' ratings and SPURs remains positive.
"The rating and positive outlook reflect our view of CHW's strength as one of the nation's largest not-for-profit health systems, significant revenue diversity, and history of strong cash flow during the past several years," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Kenneth Gacka.
In addition, Standard & Poor's affirmed its 'AAA/A-1+' and 'AAA/A-1' ratings on several series of CHW's VRDBs, based on the application of our joint criteria. The long-term components of the joint criteria ratings are based jointly on CHW's SPUR and the long-term rating of each of the individual letter-of-credit (LOC) banks, while the short-term component is based solely on our rating of the LOC bank.
RELATED CRITERIA AND RESEARCH
- USPF Criteria: Not-For-Profit Health Care, June 14, 2007
- USPF Criteria: Debt Derivative Profile Scores, March 27, 2006
- Criteria: Methodology And Assumptions: Approach To Evaluating Letter Of Credit-Supported Debt, July 6, 2009
- USPF Criteria: Municipal Applications For Joint Support Criteria, June 25, 2007
- Criteria: Joint Support Criteria Update, April 22, 2009
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:
Ola Fadahunsi, New York (1) 212-438-5095,
[email protected]
Analyst Contacts:
Kenneth T Gacka, San Francisco (1) 415-371-5036
Kevin Holloran, Dallas (1) 214-871-1412
Martin D Arrick, New York (1) 212-438-7963