New | Borrow money for IPO? Shanghai Port pays the price with a rating cut

Shanghai International Port (Group), operator of the world’s largest container harbour, has had its long-term corporate credit rating cut from “AA-” to “A+” by S&P Global Ratings, due to its debt-funded investment in the initial public offering of Postal Savings Bank of China, according to a statement.

The port operator will see its finances rapidly deteriorate, following its HK$16 billion subscription of Postal Bank’s IPO, as debt ballons to as much as 37 billion yuan from 21 billion yuan (HK$24.4 billion) at the end of 2015, S&P analyst Gloria Lu said.

Postal Bank, whose shares began trading in Hong Kong on September 28, raised HK$56.63 billion (US$7.3 billion) in the world’s largest IPO in two years. It will be included in the Hang Seng Global Composite Index and the Hang Seng Composite Index, including its sub-indexes, from October 13.

The Postal Bank investment -- which must be locked up for six months -- will significantly weaken Shanghai Port’s key credit metrics over the next two years, even though it’s a long-term strategic asset for the company in pursuit of business diversification, Lu said.

The investment will drag down Shanghai Port’s ratio of funds from operations (FFO) to debt to between 26 per cent and 29 per cent in the three years up to 2018, from over 60 per cent at the end of last year, S&P said.