Bangkok--18 Sep--Standard & Poor's
Over the past month, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has downgraded four issuers to speculative grade from investment grade. This pushes the 2009 year-to-date tally to 66 fallen angels, said an article published today by Standard & Poor's Global Fixed Income Research, titled "Global Potential Fallen Angels (Premium)."
Fallen angels are issuers downgraded to speculative grade ('BB+' and lower) from investment grade ('BBB-' and higher), whereas rising stars move in the opposite direction.
The 66 fallen angels so far this year have accounted for rated debt worth US$223.06 (?156.32) billion. By debt volume, the current fallen angel tally nearly matches that of the US$226.42 billion in all of 2008.
"By count, finance companies lead 2009's fallen angels to date with 12 entities, followed by banks with nine entities and utilities with eight," said Diane Vazza, head of Standard & Poor's Global Fixed Income Research.
The global potential fallen angel count decreased by one issuer from this past month's report to a total of 75 issuers with US$249.46 (?174.82) billion in rated debt. These companies are rated 'BBB-' and have either a negative outlook or ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications.
Sectors poised to lead fallen angel incidence are banks with 15 entities, followed by consumer products with nine entities and metals, mining, and steel with seven entities.
The standard version of this article is part of our standard Global Fixed Income Research content. The premium version contains expanded analysis of the article's most significant points, typically broken out by sector and region. Also in the premium version are in-depth charts and tables, the underlying data of which are available for download. Ratings information can also be found on Standard & Poor's public Web site at www.standardandpoors.com; under Ratings in the left navigation bar, select Find a Rating. Members of the media may request a copy of this report by contacting the media representative provided.
Media Contact:
Ana Sandoval, New York (1) 212-438-5095, [email protected]
Analyst Contacts:
Diane Vazza, New York (1) 212-438-2760
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