Moody's upgrades JSW Steel to Baa3 rating
MUMBAI: Moody’s Ratings has upgraded JSW Steel to Baa3 with a stable outlook, placing it at a global investment grade, the country’s largest steelmaker said
MUMBAI: Moody’s Ratings has upgraded JSW Steel to Baa3 with a stable outlook, placing it at a global investment grade, the country’s largest steelmaker said. The rating agency also upgraded JSW Steel’s senior unsecured ratings and guaranteed senior unsecured revenue bonds issued by Jefferson County Port Authority to Baa3 from Ba1, withdrawing its earlier Ba1 corporate family rating.“This rating is a recognition of the strength and resilience of JSW Steel’s business - our scale as India’s largest steel producer, our cost-competitive operations across multiple locations, and the quality of assets we have built over the years,” said Jayant Acharya, joint managing director and chief executive at JSW Steel.“Global investment grade strengthens our access to international capital markets on more competitive terms.
It also affirms the confidence that customers, partners and investors worldwide place in JSW Steel,” he said.The Baa3 rating by Moody’s follows other re-ratings secured by JSW Steel recently. Earlier in July, Fitch upgraded the company to ‘BB+’ from ‘BB’, while CARE Ratings upgraded it to CARE AA+ from CARE AA. ICRA also upgraded the company to AA+ from AA. JSW Steel said this marks a comprehensive endorsement of its deleveraging and financial discipline.“This rating is a validation of the discipline this organisation has practiced through a full business cycle, not just of the numbers on our balance sheet,” said Swayam Saurabh, chief financial officer.
“Over the last few years, we made a conscious shift towards sharper capital allocation – being more selective about where we deploy capital, more deliberate about the pace of our growth while managing key financial ratios across cycles.”JSW Steel’s consolidated net debt fell to Rs 46,157 crore at the end of June from Rs 53,870 crore a quarter ago. Its net debt-to-equity ratio stood at 0.42 times at the end of June, improving from 0.51 times at the end of March.
Net-debt-to- EBITDA ratio stood at 1.46 times, down from 1.81 times.
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