Fitch says Sunshine Holdings’ lower leverage on equity issue not enough for rating upgrade

Tuesday, 22 May 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sunshine Holdings PLC’s (A-(lka)/Stable) plan to bring in new equity of Rs. 775 million from a private placement of shares should help the company deleverage and strengthen its balance sheet, Fitch Ratings says.

However, Fitch expects Sunshine’s ratings to remain unchanged, as the projected fall in net leverage will be insufficient to trigger an upgrade.

Sunshine used mostly debt in 2017 to fund a Rs. 2.9 billion purchase of an additional stake in its plantation business, which drove up leverage substantially.

“We estimate that a successful private placement would see the company’s net leverage improve to 2.0x in the financial year ending March 2019, from our 2.4x forecast. Sunshine’s net leverage is defined as lease-adjusted debt net of cash/operating EBITDAR, including proportionate consolidation of Estate Management Services (Private) Limited, the holding company for the agriculture and consumer goods segments. The estimate is still higher than the 1.5x threshold below which we may upgrade the company’s rating,” Fitch said.

On 17 May, Sunshine, through a stock-exchange filling, announced an issue of 11.9 million ordinary shares by way of a private placement to SBI Ven Holdings Ltd (SVH). According to the public announcement, the proceeds will be used to reduce the company’s net debt by partly repaying debt at the holding company, while maintaining any balance in term deposits. Following this transaction, SVH will increase its stake in Sunshine to 18%, from 11%. Sunshine expects the share issue to be completed by end-June 2018 subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.