India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has upgraded Jindal Stainless Limited’s (JSL) long-term credit rating to ‘IND A+’ which is three levels up from their earlier rating of ‘IND BBB+’. The short-term credit rating of the company has also been upgraded to ‘IND A1+’.
The key reasons for the upgrade include accelerated deleveraging, supported by the prepayments of debt, which was originally scheduled to be repaid over FY22-FY23, in FY21 along with a strong operating performance.
The rating also factors in the benefit of proposed amalgamation, coupled with strong group linkages considering the same line of business along with strong operational, strategic, and financial linkages.
Earlier in May this year, CRISIL Ratings had assigned ‘CRISIL A+/Stable’ rating to the long-term credit facilities of JSL. Short-term credit facilities of JSL were rated ‘CRISIL A1’.
Commenting on this development, Abhyuday Jindal, Managing Director, JSL said, “The latest credit rating upgrade has taken into consideration the positive implications of the ongoing merger process of JSHL into JSL. Ind-Ra has acknowledged benefits of the upcoming post-merger group, including financial flexibility and balance sheet strengthening and long-term prospects.”
Ind-Ra expects JSL’s business and financial profile to largely sustain post the merger, supported by the industry-leading scale of operations and similar financial metrics, further augmented by the benefits of scale and greater financial flexibility.
The Ind-Ra has also upgraded the credit rating long-term and short-term facilities of Jindal Stainless (Hisar) Limited (JSHL) to ‘IND A+’ and ‘IND A1+’ respectively.
