Moody’s downgrades Amprion’s credit rating to “Baa2” and revises outlook to “stable”

International rating agency Moody’s Ratings (“Moody’s”) has, as part of its regular review, downgraded the long-term credit rating of Amprion GmbH (“Amprion”) from “Baa1” to “Baa2” and revised the outlook from “negative” to “stable”. Thus, Amprion retains a solid investment grade rating.

At the same time, Moody’s affirmed Amprion’s short-term rating and Commercial Paper rating at “Prime-2”.

The rating agency attributes its decision to the continued expectation of significant investment volumes over the coming years and the associated pressure on cash flow metrics relevant for the rating.

Amprion is currently planning investments, required by regulation, in the expansion and upgrading of the German transmission grid amounting to €42 billion by 2030. These investments are secured by long-term, predictable, regulated revenue streams. From both an earnings and cash flow perspective, they therefore represent very low long-term risk.

Peter Rüth, Chief Financial Officer of Amprion, said: “Like all German transmission system operators, we are in a capex super-cycle to deliver the energy transition in Germany. In this context, we actively manage the balance between executing this ambitious investment programme, the substantial funding volumes required, and maintaining a solid investment grade rating that remains attractive and necessary for the capital markets and debt investors. Preserving a solid investment grade rating remains clearly our objective and that of our shareholders. I would like to emphasise that, for the balance I have described, a Moody’s rating of ‘Baa2’ with a stable outlook represents the minimum rating for Amprion.”

Moody’s press release on the current rating is available on the Moody’s Ratings website.