DBRS Morningstar Assigns Rating of BBB (high) With Stable Trend to Bell Canada’s Debt Issuances

DBRS Limited (DBRS Morningstar) assigned a rating of BBB (high) with a Stable trend to Bell Canada’s (Bell Canada or the Company; rated BBB (high) with a Stable trend by DBRS Morningstar) $1,000 million 3.000% Medium Term Note (MTN) Debentures Series M-54 due 2031, $550 million 4.050% MTN Debentures Series M-55 due 2051, USD 600 million 0.750% Series US-3 Notes due 2024, and USD 500 million 3.650% Series US-4 Notes due 2051, which closed on March 17, 2021.

The net proceeds from the combined MTN Debentures and Series US Notes are intended to fund the redemption of Bell Canada's $1,700 million principal amount of 3.00% Series M-40 Debentures, due October 3, 2022. Bell Canada plans to use any net proceeds from the offerings not used for such purpose for the repayment of short-term debt.

The MTN Debentures are unsecured and will rank pari passu with all other unsecured and unsubordinated indebtedness of the Company and are fully and unconditionally guaranteed by BCE Inc. The U.S. Offerings are expected to consist of Series US-3 Notes due 2024 and Series US-4 Notes due 2051, and will be unsecured and unsubordinated obligations of Bell Canada and guaranteed on an unsecured and unsubordinated basis by BCE.

A description of how DBRS Morningstar considers ESG factors within the DBRS Morningstar analytical framework can be found in the DBRS Morningstar Criteria: Approach to Environmental, Social, and Governance Risk Factors in Credit Ratings at https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/373262.

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

The principal methodologies are Rating Companies in the Communications Industry (July 30, 2020, https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/364691), Rating Companies in the Broadcasting Industry (March 12, 2021, https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/375262), DBRS Morningstar Criteria: Rating Corporate Holding Companies and Parent/Subsidiary Rating Relationships (November 2, 2020, https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/369167), DBRS Morningstar Criteria: Commercial Paper Liquidity Support for Nonbank Issuers (March 9, 2021, https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/375001), DBRS Morningstar Criteria: Guarantees and Other Forms of Support (January 14, 2021, https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/372344), and DBRS Criteria: Preferred Share and Hybrid Security Criteria for Corporate Issuers (November 2, 2020, https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/369165), which can be found on dbrsmorningstar.com under Methodologies & Criteria. Other applicable methodologies include the DBRS Morningstar Criteria: Approach to Environmental, Social, and Governance Risk Factors in Credit Ratings (February 3, 2021; https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/373262).

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.

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

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