BCP Gets Upgrade, Plans $500m Bonds

Following the upgrade on the sovereign, Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded the long-term foreign currency deposit rating of Peru’s largest bank, Banco de Credito del Peru (BCP) to Ba3 from B1. Moody’s also raised its rating for BCP’s Panama branch’s foreign currency subordinated notes maturing in 2021 to Ba1 from Ba2, based on the upgrade of Peru’s foreign currency bond ceiling. The bank is also planning to sell $500m in bonds backed by US dollar cash flows generated by BCP’s electronic remittance business, according to a ratings note by Moody’s. The bonds will likely be sold in two tranches – $350m of Series 2007-A and $150m of Series 2007-B notes. The notes have been assigned a provisional investment-grade rating of AAA by Moody’s, which explained the notes are backed by a guarantee from AAA-rated Ambac Assurance Corp., the main operating unit of Ambac Financial Group (ABK).