24.11.2016 21:49:00
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EnQuest plc -- Moody's affirms EnQuest's CFR at Caa1, upgrades PDR to Caa1-PD/LD, changes the outlook to positive
London, 24 November 2016 -- Moody's Investors Service, ("Moody's") has today affirmed EnQuest plc's corporate family rating (CFR) at Caa1 and senior unsecured rating on the $650 million notes at Caa2. At the same time, Moody's has upgraded the company's probability of default rating (PDR) to Caa1-PD/LD from Ca-PD and changed the outlook on all ratings to positive from negative. Moody's views the non-payment of interest due on 16th November 2016, after considering the grace period of 30 days, as a missed payment default and hence the PDR is appended with the "/LD" (limited default) designation, which will be removed after 3 business days. This rating action follows the company's announcement on 21st November 2016 of the debt restructuring becoming effective after all the conditions were met, which were a pre-requisite for the implementation of the debt restructuring. Moody's would have viewed this as a distressed exchange if all the conditions were met and the restructuring would have been effective before 16th November 2016, i.e. before the lapse of the grace period.