Fitch Rates Southern California Gas Company $250MM FMBs 'AA'.CHICAGO -- Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings An international rating agency for financial institutions, insurance companies, and corporate, sovereign, and municipal debt. Fitch Ratings has headquarters in New York and London and is wholly owned by FIMALAC of Paris. has assigned an 'AA' rating to Southern California Gas This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of this article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. Company's (SoCal Gas) issuance of $250 million first mortgage bonds (FMBs) 5.75% series due Nov. 15, 2035. The bonds are secured by a lien on property with a net book value of $2.8 billion as of Sept. 30, 2005. Proceeds from the sale will be used for general corporate purposes. The Rating Outlook is Stable. SoCal Gas' ratings reflect its strong financial performance, limited commodity price exposure, and the improving California regulatory environment. SoCal Gas' ratings are not currently constrained either by the rating of its parent Sempra Energy (senior unsecured debt Unsecured debt Debt that does not identify specific assets that the debtholder is entitled to in case of default. rated 'A', Stable Outlook by Fitch) or its affiliate San Diego Gas & Electric Company (senior unsecured debt rated 'AA-', Stable Outlook by Fitch). Total debt after issuance will be approximately $1.1 billion. On a pro forma basis, Fitch estimates the debt issuance will increase SoCal Gas' total debt to total capitalization ratio to 44% from 38%, and total debt to cash flow from operations Cash flow from operations A firm's net cash inflow resulting directly from its regular operations (disregarding extraordinary items such as the sale of fixed assets or transaction costs associated with issuing securities), calculated as the sum of net income plus noncash expenses to 2.1 times (x) from 1.6x for the 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2005. SoCal Gas is a regulated utility that provides gas service to approximately 19.8 million customers in most of southern California and part of central California. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used. In many cases, terms of service are used as a contractual agreement between a company and users of a service they provide. of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. |
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