Moody's drops HeidelbergCement to junk

Moody's Investors Service said it downgraded HeidelbergCement's long-term ratings to Ba1 from Baa3 and the short-term rating to NP from P-3 and assigned a Ba1 corporate family rating.

The outlook is negative.

According to Moody's, the downgrade was prompted by ongoing weaker performance in North American and other developed markets and the expectation that these markets will remain challenging for the foreseeable future, coupled with lower-than-expected proceeds from the sale of assets to reduce the leverage.

The company benefits from a strong market position in some of the growing emerging countries, the agency noted, which has helped to partly offset the weaker performance in some mature markets.

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