AmerenUE's Senior Secured Notes Rated 'AA-' By Fitch Ratings.Business Editors NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 15, 2002 Fitch Ratings has assigned an 'AA-' rating to AmerenUE's new $173 million issue of senior secured notes. The senior secured notes will have a 10-year maturity and will be secured by a series of first mortgage bonds. The senior secured notes will cease to be secured by first mortgage bonds when all existing first mortgage bonds are no longer outstanding. At that time, the senior secured notes will become unsecured obligations and will rank equally with the company's other unsecured and unsubordinated obligations. The Rating Outlook is Stable. Fitch lowered AmerenUE's ratings to their current level on Aug. 14, 2002. The rating reflects expectations that credit measures will decline over the next several years due to a rate reduction to be phased-in over the next three years and a large capital program, but will remain supportive of the new ratings. With moderate equity support from parent Ameren Corp., the equity ratio should remain in the mid 50% range. Fitch expects earnings before interest and taxes In financial and business accounting, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) is a measure of a firm's profitability that excludes interest and income tax expenses.[1] EBIT = Operating Revenue – Operating Expenses + Non-operating Income (EBIT EBIT See: Earnings Before Interest and Taxes EBIT See earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT). ) and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) is a non-GAAP metric that can be used to evaluate a company's profitability.
Used by real estate and other investment trusts to define the cash flow from trust operations; earnings with depreciation and amortization added back. after capital expenditures and dividends) will be negative for the next several years, largely due to higher capital expenditures of about $550 million to $650 million annually through 2005. For additional information, see the Fitch press release dated Aug. 14, 2002, ('AmerenUE Lowered By Fitch Ratings'), available on the Fitch Ratings web site at 'www.fitchratings.com' AmerenUE is a regulated and vertically integrated electric and gas utility primarily serving the St. Louis, Mo., area and portions of Southern Illinois. AmerenUE is a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. of Ameren Corp. |
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