PrefBlog

Standard and Poor’s has announced:

• We are placing our ratings on Union Gas Ltd. On CreditWatch with negative implications.
• The placement reflects that on parent Spectra Energy Corp.
• We will resolve this CreditWatch placement when we resolve the placement on Spectra.

The ratings on Union Gas, an Ontario-based natural gas distribution company, reflect Standard & Poor’s view of the consolidated credit profile of its ultimate parent, Spectra, and the parent’s “strong” business risk profile, “significant” financial risk profile, and “satisfactory” management and governance score. Union Gas’ monopoly-like market position, largely regulated asset base, and stable cash flow generation also support the ratings, in our opinion. We believe that the company’s significant financial risk profile and softer key credit ratios counterbalance these strengths.

I mentioned the review of Spectra on June 12, but was more concerned about Westcoast.

Union Gas is the proud issuer of two preferred shares: UNG.PR.C and UNG.PR.D, which have been discussed in passing on PrefBlog.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 18th, 2013 at 3:03 am and is filed under Issue Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.