Bangkok--18 Nov--Standard & Poor's
MEXICO CITY (Standard & Poor's) Nov. 17, 2015--Standard & Poor's RatingsServices said today it lowered its global scale long-term corporate creditrating on Grupo Senda Autotransporte S.A. de C.V. (Senda) to 'B-' from 'B'. Atthe same time, we lowered our long-term national scale corporate credit ratingto 'mxBB-' from 'mxBBB-' and our short-term national scale corporate creditand debt ratings to 'mxB' from 'mxA-3'. The outlook on the long-term corporatecredit ratings is negative.
The downgrade reflects Senda's difficulty concluding the refinancing of itssyndicated loan; the process has taken longer than expected. As a result, wehave revised our liquidity assessment on the company.
For the twelve months ended Sept. 30, 2015, the company's operatingperformance and cash flow generation have improved, but not enough to bolsterthe issuer's cash flow generation and strengthen its liquidity.
The negative outlook reflects our view that the company's liquidity couldfurther deteriorate if it is unable to refinance its syndicated loan.
We could lower the rating if the company is unable to refinance its syndicatedloan, which would lead to a further decline in its liquidity, leaving theissuer's financial commitments unsustainable in the long term, given the largeamount of amortizing debt.
We could revise the outlook to stable if the company is able to close therefinancing of its syndicated loan with conditions that improve its liquidity,and if the trend in its operating performance remains positive.