DBRS Morningstar Assigns Rating of “A” with a Stable Trend to FortisBC Energy Inc.’s $200 Million Unsecured Medium Term Note Debentures

DBRS Limited (DBRS Morningstar) assigned a rating of “A” with a Stable trend to FortisBC Energy Inc.’s (FEI) $200 million 2.540% Unsecured Medium Term Note Debentures Series 33 (MTN Debentures), maturing July 13, 2050. MTN Debentures settled on July 13, 2020. The rating assigned to this newly issued debt instrument is based on the rating of an already-outstanding debt series of the above-mentioned debt instrument.

The MTN Debentures will rank in equal priority with other unsecured and unsubordinated indebtedness.

FEI intends to use an amount equal to the net proceeds of the issuance of the MTN Debentures to finance or refinance, in part or in full, new and/or existing green projects.

DBRS Morningstar believes that the regulated business model and strong financial credit metrics of FEI provides enough cushion to weather the impact of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic and does not expect any material impact on the credit quality of FEI in the near term. However, DBRS Morningstar acknowledges the uncertainties associated with coronavirus and will continue to actively monitor the situation.

ESG CONSIDERATIONS

A description of how DBRS Morningstar considers ESG factors within the DBRS Morningstar analytical framework and its methodologies can be found at: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/357792.

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

The principal methodologies are Rating Companies in the Regulated Electric, Natural Gas and Water Utilities Industry (September 16, 2019), DBRS Morningstar Criteria: Commercial Paper Liquidity Support for Nonbank Issuers (March 10, 2020), and DBRS Morningstar Criteria: Rating Corporate Holding Companies and Parent/Subsidiary Rating Relationships (November 25, 2019), which can be found on dbrsmorningstar.com under Methodologies & Criteria.

For more information regarding rating methodologies and Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), please see the following DBRS Morningstar press release: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/357883.

Generally, the conditions that lead to the assignment of a Negative or Positive trend are resolved within a 12-month period. DBRS Morningstar trends and ratings are under regular surveillance.

For more information on this credit or on this industry, visit www.dbrsmorningstar.com or contact us at [email protected].

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