GCC

Moody’s Investors Service takes rating action on five GCC project finance issuers

RATIONALE FOR DOLPHIN ENERGY’S STABLE OUTLOOK

The stable outlook reflects the solid operating performance and financial metrics for the project, as well as the project’s strategic importance to the Government of Abu Dhabi.

WHAT COULD CHANGE THE RATINGS OF DOLPHIN ENERGY UP/DOWN

An upgrade of the rating is currently unlikely. Moody’s could downgrade the ratings following: (1) a downgrade of Mubadala’s rating of more than one notch, (2) a reassessment of the support assumptions currently incorporated in Moody’s evaluation or (3) a deterioration in Dolphin Energy’s operating and financial performance.

RATIONALE FOR RUWAIS POWER’S STABLE OUTLOOK

The stable outlook reflects our expectation that Ruwais Power will be able to achieve the levels of power and water availability targets set out in our rating case, which assumes power and water availability of 1per cent lower than the PWPA/Issuer’s base case.

WHAT COULD CHANGE THE RATINGS OF RUWAIS POWER UP/DOWN

An upgrade is unlikely for the foreseeable future owing to Ruwais Power’s low DSCRs and relative positioning versus peers.

Moody’s could downgrade the rating if (1) Ruwais Power fails to achieve the target availability or heat rate levels under the PWPA, (2) DSCRs appear likely to fall persistently below 1.2x, (3) there is a significant outage or performance failure that cannot be easily accommodated within the available contractual protections, (4) the government of Abu Dhabi no longer holds (directly or indirectly) at least a 50 per cent share in Ruwais Power or (5) there appeared to be a reduced willingness and/or ability of shareholders to provide support, potentially driven by a severe deterioration in their own credit quality.