Canadian non-financial companies have roughly $91 billion of rated debt maturing in 2016-20, the highest since 2009, but near-term refunding risks are low due to back-loaded maturity profiles, according to a report released on Tuesday by Moody’s Investors Service.
“The rise in maturities is due mainly to speculative-grade bank and bond maturities, which increased to their highest amount since 2009,” says Tiina Siilaberg, vice president and senior analyst at Moody’s, in a statement. “This reflects the fact that investors have recently moved down the rating scale in search of higher yields and that issuers have taken on more debt.”
At the same time, investment-grade maturities are on the decline, the report from the New York City-based credit rating agency says. Investment-grade bond issuance are down 40% to $18 billion, and total investment-grade maturities are dropping by 11% to $40 billion, according to the report.
Despite the increase in maturities over the next several years, near-term refunding risks are low, given that these maturities tend to be back-loaded, with the bulk of the debt due in the last three years, the Moody’s report says. It adds that Canadian debt maturities will peak at $29 billion in 2020, but that only $7 billion is due in 2016, and $10 billion is due in 2017.
By sector, Canadian debt maturities are concentrated in commodities, with the energy, natural resources and chemicals industries accounting for 38% of total maturities, according to the report. This is followed by telecommunications, technology and media at 23%, and healthcare with 14%.
“The lack of near-term maturities gives Canadian non-financial companies some breathing room in the face of worsening market conditions, including the slow pace of transactions in the Canadian-dollar high-yield markets at the end of 2015 and weakness in commodity sectors, which dominate Canadian maturities,” says Anastasija Johnson, a Moody’s analyst.
“We believe most Canadian non-financial companies will maintain credit metrics and liquidity in line with their ratings,” adds Siilaberg.