Bangkok--10 Sep--Standard & Poor's
The count of issuers poised for upgrades has risen by two since our previous report to a total of 262, said an article published today by Standard & Poor's, titled "Upgrade Potential Across Credit Grades And Sectors (Premium)." This exceeds the trailing-12-month average by 46, and it resumes the trend that we have seen every month this year--except for July--of an uptick in upgrade potential.
We define potential upgrades as issuers that have either a positive outlook or ratings on CreditWatch with positive implications across rating categories 'AA+' to 'B-'.
Since our previous report, we have added 27 issuers to our list of potential upgrades and removed another 25.
"Issuers rated 'B' showed the greatest potential for upgrades, constituting 21% of the total global pool of potential upgrades," said Diane Vazza, head of Standard & Poor's Global Fixed Income Research. By rating category, the preponderance of potential upgrades was in the 'B' rating category, including the 'B+', 'B', and 'B-' rating designations, which constitute 46% of the total pool of potential upgrades.
"Of the 262 issuers on the current list, 30% are rated investment grade, and the remaining 70% are rated speculative grade," said Ms. Vazza. "The concentration in the speculative-grade segment is not surprising given that more volatility generally is associated with speculative-grade ratings."
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 by using the Ratings search box located in the left column at www.standardandpoors.com. Members of the media may request a copy of this report by contacting the media representative provided.
Media Contact:
David Wargin, New York (1) 212-438-1579,
[email protected]
Analyst Contact:
Diane Vazza, New York (1) 212-438-2760