(Finance) – Thecredit rating agency S&P has improved since “BB” to “BB +”with stable outlookthe rating assigned to Atlantia. At the same time, S&P has improved the rating of Aeroporti di Roma dto BBB- to BBB with stable outlook.
“We believe – reads the rating agency’s assessment – that the improvement of the sale of Autostrade per l’Italia (Aspi) in May 2022 has eliminated Atlantia’s liquidity risk resolving the dispute with the grantor over the collapse of the Genoa bridge, with consequent collection of 8.2 billion euros and removing the financing links with the Aspi debt “.
“Following the agreement on Aspi – continues the agency – the business of Atlantia benefits from the strong quality of key infrastructure assets in portfolio (such as ACS / Hochtief which holds 50% minus one share of Abertis Infraestructuras, which contributes approximately 80% of the consolidated EBITDA after the sale of Aspi) “.
According to S&P “theVoluntary takeover bid on ordinary shares of Atlantia announced on April 14, 2022 by its largest shareholder Edizione (33% indirect stake) in partnership with Blackstone Infrastructure Partners (BEEP) it is negative as it will absorb Aspi’s revenues without replacing its generation of cash flows, reducing Atlantia’s financial flexibility and most likely requiring the share support of its shareholders, should it pursue significant new investments “.
For this S&P has “raised the issuer and long-term issuer rating on Atlantia to ‘BB +’ from ‘BB’, short-term rating to ‘B’ confirmed. Furthermore – continues the rating agency in its opinion – we have increased our long-term ratings on its subsidiary Aeroporti di Roma (AdR) to “BBB” from “BBB-“ and we raised our short-term rating to “A-2” from “A-3”.