EPM Gets Investment Grade

Fitch has upgraded Colombian utility Empresas Publicas de Medellin’s (EPM) rating to BBB minus from BB+ with a stable outlook. The upgrade is due to “increased geographic diversification of the company, a result of the acquisition of 4 distribution companies during the past 2 years,” says Fitch. It adds that EPM’s ratings also take into consideration the company’s strong performance of and its continued operations with limited government intervention. EPM reported a consolidated Ebitda of approximately COP2,572bn ($1.3bn) and total consolidated debt of about COP3.3bn ($1.6bn).This translates into a leverage ratio of 1.3x, which Fitch considers strong for the rating category.