S&P and Fitch Ratings Raise TNB Ratings To 'BBB+' with Stable Outlook

07/01/2010

Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) ratings have been revised upward by two international credit rating agencies; Standard & Poor’s Rating Services and Fitch Ratings to better reflect the national utility corporation’s current profile. Standard & Poor has upgraded its corporate credit ratings on TNB to ‘BBB+ with stable outlook from BBB with stable outlook. It also upgraded TNB’s Asean scale ratings to ‘axA+’ from ‘axA’. At the same time, the issue ratings on the senior unsecured notes issued by TNB and the US$350 million senior unsecured note issued by TNB Capital and guaranteed by TNB were also raised to ‘BBB+’ from ‘BBB’. The upgrade reflect TNB’s improved standalone credit profile following the recent and more frequent tariff adjustments which point to an enhanced tariff setting mechanism. Fitch Ratings meanwhile, raised TNB’s Long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) from to ‘BBB+’ from ‘BBB’ and its Short-term foreign and local currency IDR to ‘F2’ to ‘F3’ with stable outlook. In addition, Fitch Ratings affirmed TNB’s senior unsecured ratings at ‘BBB+’. The ratings are in tandem with TNB’s ability to maintain a relatively strong financial profile, despite the negative effects of the financial crisis on energy demand in Malaysia, and the impact of the devaluation of the Malaysian ringgit. The ratings also take into account the continuous improvement in TNB’s operational performance and customer outage metrics.