Instituitional Investors2 May 2020 19:26
The last ratings of Tullow's credit facility/corporate bonds:
B - December 2019 by Standard and Poor
B3 - March 2020 by Moody's
What does this mean?
- Both had negative outlook for Tullow.
- Both gave ratings on Tullow's debt facilities as "VERY HIGH risk" e.g. the company is close to going bankrupt.
Since March 2020, Tullow has essentially almost turned everything around
- RBL redetermination to provide Tullow headroom
- Sale of assets
- CEO
- Good Q1 performance.
- etc.
Instituitional Investors follow the credit risk ratings for investments to safeguard funds, pensions, etc.
Despite the good performance by Tullow so far this year, instituitional investors WILL NOT invest in Tullow until their credit facility and corporate bond rating is upgraded by firms such as S&P and Moodys.
So when is the next credit risk rating and what will it be?
- Moody's were "scheduled to downgrade" Tullow's risk rating further following their last downgrade. This is unlikely to happen and Tullow are most likely to be upgraded instead.
- Moody's next rating is likely to be in June.
- Standard and Poor's next rating is again likely to be in June and again will most likely be an upgrade.
- Both ratings also depend on the outlook for the oil industry and the economy.
What does this mean for Tullow until June?
- Tullow is unlikely to be invested in by institutional investors until these ratings are upgraded
- Even with a FTSE250 entry, the number of instituitional investors to invest in Tullow will be lower than expected
- Since only private investors will be the majority holders of Tullow, the volatility will remain until credit ratings are re-rated.
I'm sure everyone knows this, but just thought i'd post for those that don't.
DYOR. GLA.