Moody's upgrades Calpine bonds to investment grade

Moody's Investors Service upgraded the senior unsecured debt of Calpine Corp. and its affiliates to Baa3 from Ba1. Approximately $9 billion of debt and preferred securities are affected by the upgrade, according to the news release, which added that Moody's outlook for Calpine, is stable.

Among other factors, Moody's cited Calpine's "very strong, broad and deep management," as well as the company's "focused growth, vertical integration and operational commoditization strategies," in the ratings upgrade.

The Moody's upgrade affects the following Calpine securities:

--Calpine Corporation senior unsecured debt to Baa3 from Ba1;

--Calpine Canada Energy Finance ULC senior unsecured debt to Baa3 from Ba1.

--Tiverton Power Associates Limited Partnership and Rumford Power Associates Limited Partnership pass through certificates to Baa3 from Ba1.

--Calpine Capital Trust, Calpine Capital Trust II and Calpine Capital Trust III convertible preferred securities to Ba1 from Ba2.

Moody's also assigned ratings to the following new securities:

--Calpine Corporation US$267 million senior unsecured notes (Baa3).

--Calpine Canada Energy Finance ULC C$250 million senior unsecured notes (Baa3).

--Calpine Canada Energy Finance II ULC £275 million senior unsecured notes (Baa3).

--South Point Energy Center, LLC, Broad River Energy LLC and RockGen Energy LLC US$654.5 million pass through certificates (Baa3).

San Jose, Calif.-based Calpine develops, owns and operates highly efficient, natural gas-fired and renewable geothermal electric generating facilities, according to the release.

Fitch Rates Calpine's $2 bln debt BBB-

Fitch assigned Calpine Corp.'s $2 billion proposed senior secured notes a rating of BBB-. Calpine's outstanding parity debt is affirmed at BBB-, according to the rating agency.

"The investment-grade rating reflects the company's record of consistently meeting its financial and operating targets, the competitive operating profile of its generating assets, a proactive management team and a flexible financing strategy that takes advantage of opportunities in both the debt and equity markets," Fitch stated.

Moody's cuts Amkor Tech senior rating to B1, sub debt to B3, outlook negative

Moody's Investors Service lowered the debt ratings for Amkor Technology Inc.'s and revised the ratings outlook to negative on Tuesday. The $425 million 9.25% senior notes due 2006 and $500 million 9.25% senior notes due 2008 were cut to B1 from Ba3. The $200 million 10.5% senior subordinated notes due 2009, $259 million 5% convertible subordinated notes due 2007 and $250 million 5.75% convertible subordinated notes due 2006 were cut to B3 from B2. Moody's also lowered Amkor's $225 million guaranteed senior secured term loan and Amkor's $200 million guaranteed senior secured revolving credit facility, which is available but restricted to $130 million as of June 30 to Ba3 from Ba2. And, Moody's lowered the senior implied rating and senior unsecured issuer rating to B1 from Ba3. About $.19 billion of debt was affected. Amkor's ratings could be lowered further if the company's liquidity deteriorates significantly, Moody's said.

S&P lowers CommScope convertibles to B+

S&P lowered its corporate credit rating on CommScope Inc. to BB from BBB- and its convertible subordinated notes to B+ from BB+. At the same time S&P withdrew its existing BBB- bank loan rating and assigned a BB+ bank loan rating to the company's proposed $360 million senior secured credit facility. Ratings are removed from CreditWatch where they were placed on July 24, 2001, S&P stated.

The $360 million new credit facility consists of a $225 million 3 3/4-year senior secured term loan A, a $225 million 4 3/4-year senior secured term loan B and a $50 million 3 3/4-year senior secured revolving credit facility. The bank loan is secured by all tangible and intangible assets of CommScope Inc. and includes equity interest in its joint venture with Furukawa. There are restrictive covenants that prohibit further investments in the joint venture beyond $10 million.

The ratings action on the Hickory, N.C.-based coaxial cable company is based on a more leveraged financial profile and challenges associated with operating the new fiber optic cable business in an environment with uncertain demand, S&P stated.

Moody's downgrades United Pan-Europe sr unsec notes to Caa3

Moody's Investors Service lowered the debt ratings for United Pan-Europe Communications and its subsidiaries. UPC's senior unsecured notes dropped to Caa3 from Caa1 and its subsidiary bank debt to B2 from B1. Concurrently, Moody's downgraded the Caa1 senior unsecured bond rating of UPC's Polish subsidiary, UPC Polska, to Caa2. UPC's senior implied and senior unsecured issuer ratings are Caa1 and Caa3, respectively, according to the report, which added that all ratings have been placed under review

for possible further downgrade.

In its report Moody's cited disadvantageous developments likely to impact the company's capital structure, set in train by UPC's fallen stock price.

"Moody's now believes that some form of restructuring is a strong possibility and expects that bondholders are likely to realise considerable losses given their increased subordination to a growing senior bank facility," the report stated.

UPC is a leading provider of broadband communication services, headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Moody's cuts UnitedGlobalCom

Moody's Investors Service lowered the debt and preferred stock ratings of UnitedGlobalCom and its subsidiaries, and placed the ratings under review for possible further downgrade. Lowered were UnitedGlobalCom's $1.375 billion (face amount) of 10.75% senior secured discount notes due 2008 to to Caa3 from Caa1, the $355 million (face amount) of 10.875% senior unsecured discount notes due 2009 to Ca from Caa2, $425 million of 7% Series C preferred stock and $287.5 million of 7% Series D preferred stock to C from Ca. Moody's said the downgrades principally reflect the diminished credit profile of UGC's majority-owned subsidiary United Pan-Europe Communications (UPC), as reflected in Tuesday's rating downgrades of the debt for that entity and its subsidiaries cutting the senior implied rating to Caa1 from B2, which in turn has adversely impacted the credit quality of UGC given the historically strong correlation to and support of UPC from an asset valuation perspective towards UGC's ratings.

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