By The Associated Press
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said Thursday it raised its long-term corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings for Cemex SAB de CV, citing the building materials giant's strong liquidity position.
The agency said it boosted the ratings to a non-investment grade "B'' from "B-" and removed them from its CreditWatch Positive list, where they were placed Aug. 27.
Standard & Poor's also lifted its long-term national scale corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings on Mexico-based Cemex to "mxBB+" from "mxBB." And it hiked its fixed-to-floating callable perpetual debentures rating to "B-" from "CCC."
The outlook on all ratings is positive, the agency said.
"The upgrade reflects better inflow than we expected from Cemex's equity issuance and Australian asset disposal, providing additional flexibility and liquidity to face financial needs during the next two years," Standard & Poor's credit analyst Juan Pablo Becerra said in a statement.
American Depositary Shares of Cemex rose 41 cents, or 3.3 percent, to $13.02 in afternoon trading.