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Fitch Cuts Ford Debt, But Not to Junk
By James B. Bleeker
Fitch Ratings cut Ford Motor Company's long-term debt to BBB from BBB+. This leaves Ford's long-term debt two notches above junk, per Fitch. The following table depicts Fitch's and Standard & Poor's ratings of Ford and General Motors Corporation's long-term debt. For reference are the S&P ratings of some additional auto and auto component manufacturers.
S&P and Fitch Long-Term Debt Ratings as of May 25, 2005 Ratings Automobile Manufacturers Investment Grade Ratings AAA Toyota Motor Corporation AA+ AA AA- A+ Honda Motor Company A A- BBB+ BBB Ford Motor Company BBB- Junk Grade Ratings BB+ Ford Motor Company, General Motors Corporation BB General Motors Corporation BB- B+ B B- Delphi Corporation, Visteon Corporation CCC+ CCC CCC- D As S&P rates Ford's bonds as junk, they will be dropped from the Lehman Brothers Index for investment-grade debt as of June 1, per Lehman Brothers' current rules; however, as of July 1, when Lehman Brothers' new rules take effect, Ford's bonds will return to the Index, as two - Moody's Investors Service and Fitch - of the three major credit rating firms place the debt above junk. The old rules mandate a drop from the index when either Moody's or S&P rates an issuer's bonds junk; the new rules will require two of the three major credit rating firms to rate an issuer's bonds junk before expulsion.
Sources for Fitch rating cut: "Fitch Cuts Credit Ranking for Ford," the Associated Press, May 19, 2005, available at Yahoo! News and "Fitch Cuts Ford's Debt Rating," Reuters, Dena Aubin and Dan Wilchins, May 19, 2005, available at Yahoo! News
Source for Lehman Brothers' rules: "Fitch Downgrades GM Debt to Junk," Aparajita Saha-Bubna, Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2005, p. C5
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