DBRS Upgrades Bell-MTS Medium-Term Notes and Discontinues Issuer Rating and Commercial Paper

DBRS Limited (DBRS) has today upgraded the Medium-Term Notes rating of Bell-MTS Inc. (Bell-MTS or the Company) to BBB (high) from BBB with a Stable trend. The Medium-Term Notes have also been removed from Under Review with Positive Implications. This rating upgrade follows the successful acquisition of Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. (MTS) by BCE Inc. (BCE).

DBRS has also discontinued Bell-MTS’s Issuer Rating and Commercial Paper rating and removed them from Under Review with Positive Implications.

On May 2, 2016, BCE announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire MTS by acquiring all of its issued and outstanding common shares, valued at approximately $3.1 billion, and by assuming outstanding net debt of approximately $0.8 billion for a total enterprise consideration of $3.9 billion. DBRS subsequently placed MTS’ ratings Under Review with Positive Implications based on the proposed transaction and Bell Canada’s stronger credit profile.

On March 27, 2017, Bell Canada (rated BBB (high) with Stable trends by DBRS), a wholly owned subsidiary of BCE, assumed Bell-MTS' outstanding debt. Bell Canada and Bell-MTS are co-obligors on the Bell-MTS Medium-Term Notes, which are guaranteed by BCE.

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 principal methodologies are Rating Companies in the Communications Industry, DBRS Criteria: Commercial Paper Liquidity Support for Non-Bank Issuers and DBRS Criteria: Guarantees and Other Forms of Support, which can be found on dbrs.com under Methodologies.

The rated entity or its related entities did participate in the rating process. DBRS had access to the accounts and other relevant internal documents of the rated entity or its related entities.