Bangkok--23 Sep--Standard & Poor's
The number of global potential rising stars remains unchanged from this past month at only 10 issuers, with US$12.57 (?8.81) billion in rated debt, said an article published Monday, September 21 by Standard & Poor's. This is the lowest tally on record since our series began in 2002.
We define potential rising stars as entities rated 'BB+' with either a positive outlook or ratings on CreditWatch with positive implications.
In contrast to potential rising stars, the count of entities about to cross over in the opposite direction (potential fallen angels) is 75, down from the 18-year record high of 82 in March, according to the article, titled "Global Potential Rising Stars (Premium)." The 75 issuers listed this month as potential fallen angels have rated debt worth US$223.06 (?156.32) billion.
"The decline is largely a result of a sharp escalation in materialized fallen angel activity to an average of more than seven fallen angels per month this year, compared with five fallen angels per month in 2008 and two per month in 2004," said Diane Vazza, head of Standard & Poor's Global Fixed Income Research.
Globally, one new rising star has emerged since our previous report, bringing the 2009 year-to-date tally to 14 rising stars, with affected rated debt worth US$49.26 (?34.52) billion. All of these rising stars have been attributed to well-performing individual credits and acquisitions by issuers with stronger credit standing, as opposed to any systematic decoupling of risk.
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.
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