S&P Lowers Ratings of Various Korean Corporates.TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Standard & Poor's CreditWire 12/11/97-- Standard & Poor's today lowered its long-term foreign-currency issuer credit and senior debt ratings on Korea Electric Power This article is about Korean Electric Power Company. For the Japanese Electric Power Company, see Kansai Electric Power Company. Korea Electric Power (NYSE: KEP) is the only electric utility provider in South Korea. Corp. (KEPCO KEPCO Korea Electric Power Corporation KEPCO Kansai Electric Power Company, Inc. (Japan) KEPCO Kyushu Electric Power Company, Inc. (Japan) ), Korea Telecom KT (formerly, Korea Telecom, Korean: 한국통신, NYSE: KT) is South Korea's top integrated wired/wireless telecommunication service provider. KT has been Korea's leader in the development of the information & communications business for the last 25 years (KT), Pohang Iron & Steel Co. Ltd., (POSCO POSCO Pohang Iron & Steel Co, Ltd ) and SK Telecom Co. Ltd. to triple-'B'-minus from single-'A'-minus. KEPCO's short-term foreign-currency rating was lowered to 'A-3' from 'A-2'. The rating on KE International Ltd.'s Swiss Franc Noun 1. Swiss franc - the basic unit of money in Switzerland franc - the basic monetary unit in many countries; equal to 100 centimes centime - a fractional monetary unit of several countries: France and Algeria and Belgium and Burkina Faso and Burundi and (SFr) 127 million secured notes with warrants due November 2000 was lowered to triple-'B'-minus from single-'A'-minus, as these notes are dependent on the rating of underlying convertible notes with warrants issued by KEPCO. All the ratings remain on CreditWatch with negative implications. Standard & Poor's also lowered the long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer credit and senior debt ratings of Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics (SEC, Hangul:삼성전자; KSE: 005930, KSE: 005935, LSE: SMSN, LSE: SMSD) is a South Korean multinational corporation and the world's largest and leading electronics and information technology company. Co. Ltd. to triple-'B'-minus from single-'A'-minus. The long-term foreign currency issuer credit and debt ratings of Hyundai Motor Co. and LG-Caltex Oil Corp. were lowered to triple-'B'-minus from triple-'B'-plus. The short-term foreign-currency ratings of Samsung Electronics and SK Corp. were lowered to 'A-3' from 'A-2'. These ratings, too, all remain on CreditWatch with negative implications. The rating changes follow Standard & Poor's announcement earlier today that it had lowered the foreign-currency rating on the sovereign to triple-'B'-minus from single-'A'-minus (see related press release). The triple-'B'-minus ratings of Daewoo Corp. and Hyundai Semiconductor America Inc. remain on CreditWatch with negative implications. The extremely high leverage of Korea's corporate sector and the bankruptcies of a growing number of leading Korean companies have created credit problems for the country's banking system and government alike. This has engendered a host of new difficulties, particularly a contraction in bank lending and in access to foreign currency, that are now impairing the credit quality of the stronger Korean corporate borrowers that Standard & Poor's rates. Of immediate concern are the potential inability of these companies to refinance their short-term debt Short-term debt Debt obligations, recorded as current liabilities, requiring payment within the year. and an escalating debt-service burden resulting from higher interest rates. In addition, near-term performance of Korean companies across the board is threatened by an expected recession next year. Other factors that are likely to impact corporate credit quality include: -- The inability of the Korean government to continue supporting strategic companies and industries as it has in the past, in light of its own worsening financial condition as well as restrictions imposed by the International -- Monetary Fund (IMF IMF See: International Monetary Fund IMF See International Monetary Fund (IMF). ); -- Increased credit risk for companies that are members of industrial groups (chaebol chae·bol n. pl. chaebol A conglomerate of businesses, usually owned by a single family, especially in Korea. [Korean chaeb ) as their weaker members succumb to the deteriorating operating environment In computing, an operating environment is the environment in which users run programs, whether in a command line interface, such as in MS-DOS or the Unix shell, or in a graphical user interface, such as in the Macintosh operating system. ; -- The potential need for the remaining stronger companies to participate in the corporate restructuring of companies in distress. Standard & Poor's will review the various ratings in the coming weeks, evaluating the degree of exposure and potential impact of these factors on credit quality, the company said. -- CreditWire RATINGS REVISED, PUT ON CREDITWATCH WITH NEGATIVE IMPLICATIONS Korea Electric Power Corp. Corp credit rtg Foreign currency BBB-/Watch Neg/A-3 A-/Watch Neg/A-2 Sr secd BBB-/Watch Neg A-/Watch Neg Sr unsecd BBB-/Watch Neg A-/Watch Neg $500 fltg rate nts A-3/Watch Neg A-2 KE International Ltd. Sr secd notes with warrants BBB-/Watch Neg A-/Watch Neg Korea Telecom Corp credit rtg Foreign currency BBB-/Watch Neg/-- A-/Watch Neg/-- Sr unsecd BBB-/Watch Neg A-/Watch Neg Pohang Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. Corp credit rtg Foreign currency BBB-/Watch Neg/-- A-/Watch Neg/-- Sr unsecd BBB-/Watch Neg A-/Watch Neg SK Telecom Co. Ltd. Corp credit rtg Foreign currency BBB-/Watch Neg/-- A-/Watch Neg/-- Sr secd BBB-/Watch Neg A-/Watch Neg Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. Corp credit rtg Foreign currency BBB-/Watch Neg/-- A-/Watch Neg/-- Sr unsecd BBB-/Watch Neg A-/Watch Neg Samsung Electronics America Inc. Corp credit rtg Foreign currency --/Watch Neg/A-3 --/--/A-2 CP A-3/Watch Neg A-2 Samsung Austin Semiconductor LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control Sr unsecd BBB-/Watch Neg A-/Watch Neg AST Research Inc. Sr unsecd BBB-/Watch Neg A-/Watch Neg Hyundai Motor Co. Corp credit rtg Foreign currency BBB-/Watch Neg/-- BBB BBB A medium grade assigned to a debt obligation by a rating agency to indicate an adequate ability to pay interest and repay principal. However, adverse developments are more likely to impair this ability than would be the case for bonds rated A and above. +/Watch Neg/-- Sr unsecd BBB-/Watch Neg BBB+/Watch Neg LG-Caltex Oil Corp. Corp credit rtg Foreign currency BBB-/Watch Neg/A-3 BBB+/Stable/A-2 Sr unsecd BBB-/Watch Neg BBB+/Stable CP A-3/Watch Neg A-2 SK Corp. Corp credit rtg Foreign currency --/Watch Neg/A-3 --/--/A-2 CP A-3/Watch Neg A-2 UNCHANGED Daewoo Corp. Corp credit rtg Foreign currency BBB-/Watch Neg/-- Hyundai Semiconductor America Inc. Corp credit rtg Foreign currency BBB-/Watch Neg/-- CONTACT: Daisuke Fukutomi, Tokyo (81) 3-3593-8714 Thomas G Schiller, Tokyo (81) 3-3593-8701 Robert E Richards, Melbourne (61) 3-9250-4570 Scott Sprinzen, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of (1) 212-208-1667 Sol B Samson, New York (1) 212-208-1630 For more information on criteria or subscriptions: http://www.ratings.standardpoor.com |
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