Mercedes-Benz SA remarks on implications of Moody’s downgrade

Mercedes-Benz has released a statement addressing the implications of the recent Moody’s downgrade on the company, with the biggest effect being on its long-term issuer rating.

Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA) released a statement on Wednesday, 25 November 2020, to detail the implications of the downgrade by Moody’s. The statement follows similar statements released by other Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)-listed companies, who have also commented on the internal implications of the country being downgraded to full junk status by the credit rating agency.

MBSA first highlighted the ratings which have been affected, stating, “[Moody’s] downgraded Mercedes-Benz South Africa Limited’s backed senior unsecured domestic medium-term note (DMTN) program’s global scale long-term issuer ratings from (P)A3 to (P)Baa1. Moody’s also affirmed MBSA’s backed senior unsecured MTN long term national scale program rating of Aaa.za and the backed other short term national scale rating of P1.za.”

The company’s downgrade comes days after the agency painted a bleak picture of the country’s financial standing, as South Africa was downgraded from Ba1 to Ba2 on Friday, 20 November 2020.

See the post below.

MEC MBSA Rating Action By Moody’s Investor Services MEC https://t.co/yz9fDWHwnU

— JSE_SENS (@JSE_SENS) November 25, 2020

Sabelo Makhubo
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