DBRS Assigns Provisional Rating of AA (high) to British Columbia’s Inaugural 2016 Series 1 Renminbi Bonds

DBRS Limited (DBRS) has today assigned a provisional rating of AA (high) with a Stable trend to the Province of British Columbia’s (the Province) Inaugural 2016 Series 1 Renminbi Bonds (the Bonds) due January 25, 2019. The Bonds are being issued pursuant to the Base Offering Circular, which allows for issuance of up to Chinese Yuan (CNY) 6 billion, although DBRS notes that the inaugural issuance is limited to CNY 3 billion. The Bonds represent unsecured obligations of the Province and rank pari passu with all other present and future unsecured and unsubordinated indebtedness of the Province.

DBRS notes that under the provisions of the Base Offering Circular, payments of interest or principal may be settled with the equivalent U.S. dollar amount when due if the Province is unable to satisfy payments in renminbi because of inconvertibility, non-transferability or illiquidity.

The Province has previously issued renminbi-denominated bonds in the offshore market through its U.S. shelf program, but this represents the first onshore renminbi issuance by a Canadian province.

Notes:
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 Canadian Provincial Governments, which can be found on our website under Methodologies.

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