Fitch Ratings has downgraded Hannibal Lease’s (Hannibal) National Rating to ‘B+(tun)’ from ‘BB-(tun)’, affirmed the National Ratings of six Tunisian leasing companies and one factoring company and maintained one leasing company on Rating Watch Negative (RWN), it said Wednesday.
The rating actions follow completion of a peer review of eight Tunisian non-bank financial institutions (NBFI). These are seven leasing companies, Arab International Lease (AIL), Arab Tunisian Lease (ATL), Attijari Leasing (AL), Compagnie Internationale de Leasing (CIL), Hannibal, BH Leasing (BHL) and Tunisie Leasing et Factoring (TLF); and one factoring company, Union de Factoring (Unifactor).
The downgrade of Hannibal’s ratings primarily reflects the company’s weakened capital buffers, which are vulnerable to rising asset quality problems, rating agency said.
Fitch’s assessment also captures Hannibal’s tight liquidity profile and weak internal capital generation. The Stable Outlook reflects our expectation that Hannibal’s creditworthiness will not deteriorate further in comparison with its domestic peers.
The Outlooks on all National Long-Term Ratings are Stable, with the exception of AIL whose ratings have been maintained on RWN pending the outcome of negotiations between France’s Groupe BPCE (GBPCE, A+/Negative) with the Tunisian government concerning the sale of GBPCE’s 60% shareholding in Banque Tuniso-Koweitienne (BTK), AIL’s 95% shareholder.
National Ratings reflect the creditworthiness of an issuer relative to the country’s best credit and relative to peers operating within that country, Fitch noted.
