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Rating Agencies Finally Get The NRUC Wake Up Call
On March 8, an anonymous blogger who goes by the alias Tyler Durden (the same name as Brad Pitt’s psychopathic character in the movie “Fight Club”) wrote an unflattering opinion of CFC securities in his blog “Zero Hedge.” The blog, which circulated across the Internet, complained that CFC’s credit default swaps (CDS) were trading too tightly to U.S. Treasuries, a sign of strength. [TD: Looks like the analysis the "circulated across the Internet" hit on a nerve or two, as investors were focused not so much on certain psychopathic characters but rather on the fundamental risk I had exposed, and the company's CDS exploded by 150% in a matter of minutes, see chart below.]
“The blogger repeats the same old allegations made a few years ago, which are every bit as flawed today as they were then,” said Mike O’Brien, CFC vice president of Corporate Communications. “We do not believe the blogger’s report reflects an understanding of our financial condition or our results of operations, cashflow, ability to service our debt obligations or the strength of our loan portfolio.”
- National Rural’s funding profile has migrated towards a higher reliance on secured funding, thereby reducing the available collateral supporting unsecured creditors.
- National Rural’s leverage ratios remain elevated relative to historical measures.
- National Rural has a sizable ($1.2 billion) amount of debt maturing in August 2009.
Downgrade Triggers
This is where the NRUC story becomes eerily reminiscent of AIG's. The company is in many ways held hostage by its current rating under both Moody's, S&P and Fitch. This is manifest in three places:1) The company's $3 billion REDLG notes (as already mentioned) have a rating agency trigger. As page 13 of the 10-Q notes:
The $3.0 billion of notes payable to the FFB contain a rating trigger related to the Company's senior secured credit ratings from Standard & Poor's Corporation, Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings. A rating trigger event exists if the Company's senior secured debt does not have at last two of the following ratings: (i) A- or higher from Standard & Poor's Corporation, (ii) A3 or higher from Moody's Investors Service, (iii) A- or higher from Fitch Ratings and (iv) an equivalent rating from a successor rating agency to any of the above rating agencies. If the Company's senior secured credit ratings fall below the levels listed above, the mortgage notes on deposit at that time, which totaled $3,811 million at November 30, 2008, would be pledged as collateral rather than held on deposit. At November 30, 2008, National Rural’s senior secured debt ratings were above the rating trigger threshold.
It becomes obvious why the Rating Agencies are instrumental to the company's longevity: a 3 notch downgrade from the current senior secured rating of A/A1/A would severely limit the company to government funded liquidity in the form of the $3 billion in REDLG notes it has on the balance sheet currently.
2) As Moody's notes on page 11 of its report, NRUC has $9.2 billion notional amount in interest rate exchange agreements, which has rating triggers, this time based on the company's senior unsecured credit rating from Moody's or S&P:
"If NRUC’s rating for senior unsecured debt from either agency falls below the level specified in the agreement, the counterparty may, but is not obligated to, terminate the agreement. Upon termination, both parties would be required to make all payments that might be due to the other party. If NRUC’s senior unsecured rating from Moody’s or S&P declines to Baa1 or BBB+, respectively, the counterparty may terminate agreements with a total notional amount of $1.919 bllion. If NRUC’s senior unsecured rating from Moody’s or S&P falls below Baa1 or BBB+, respectively, the counterparty may terminate the agreement on the remaining total notional amount of $7.314 billion."
The prospect of having to terminate $9 billion in swap would likely have reverberations across both of NRUC's income and cash flow statements.
3) Lastly, the increasing reliance the company has on government funding in the form of CPFF borrowing, makes it critical that the company does not lose A-1/P-1/F-1 rating which is the cutoff for CPFF eligibility. As noted NRUC currently has over $1 billion in CPFF borrowings (a number that could grow by an additional $2.9 billion soon, see below) which it would have to find alternative ways to finance if two or more of the rating agencies turn hostile on the company.
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p0wnage! again.
Europe is requesting Marla to power up her diesel-powered turntable
Wow Fitch takes the lead again... oops... I should of said Egan Jones takes the lead again...
Sounds like some emergency calls should be going out of NRUC... "Help... my funding has fallen and it can't get up..."
psychopathic? sociopathic maybe? Or perhaps normal? The shit these dickwads pull are enough to drive anyone to seemingly abnormal behavior.
Pete
For the ratings agencies to downgrade these notes to levels that would cause significant harm would be unrealistic. They are so full of it. They assisted in this debacle as much as anyone else. Although most likely deserving of the appropriate downgrade, I seriouly doubt it will ever happen. They all have too much dirt on each other to pull the trigger.
NRU
NRC
NRN
Volume between all three on Friday was less than 10K shares-doesnt get much thinner. Is it worth shorting this pig? Im sure there are no options on it. What could the chances be of it going under 30%? 50%.?
Went to a shooting range for the 3rd time in my life today. What an experience. Sometimes I think us Yankees miss out on what is a part of life for our cajun friends to the South. Other than banning guns totally,I dont think the gun laws could be more strict. I looked a them when I got back just to see--and its a joke.