DBRS Finalizes Provisional Rating of A (low) on North Battleford Power L.P. Bonds

DBRS has today finalized its provisional rating of A (low) with a Stable trend on the $667.3 million, 4.958% Series A Senior Secured Amortizing Bonds (the Bonds) issued by North Battleford Power L.P. (North Battleford or the Issuer) and secured by all assets of the Issuer.

DBRS assigned a provisional rating of A (low) with a Stable trend on September 6, 2013. Please refer to the September 6, 2013, press release for more detail. DBRS notes that pricing was better than had been expected at the time the provisional rating was assigned, which has permitted a slight decrease in the amount of the Bonds, from an estimated $673.0 million to $667.3 million, and has allowed the equity distribution to increase from $50 million to $54 million even as the minimum annual debt service coverage of 1.77 times (x) increased slightly to 1.81x. Accordingly, DBRS is of the view that the changes related to a lower-than-expected funding cost are not material for the rating.

Notes:
All figures are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.

The related regulatory disclosures pursuant to the National Instrument 25-101 Designated Rating Organizations are hereby incorporated by reference and can be found by clicking on the link to the right under Related Research or by contacting us at info@dbrs.com.

The applicable methodology is Rating Project Finance, which can be found on our website under Methodologies.

This rating is endorsed by DBRS Ratings Limited for use in the European Union.