S&P Awards Aqualectra with an ‘A-‘ Financial Rating Beaming with pride, the team at Aqualectra was pleased to announce that the highly esteemed Standard & Poor’s Financial Services, LLC, has awarded the company an ‘A-‘ financial rating. As the first utility company in the Caribbean to be awarded a Standard and Poor’s (S&P) rating, this has undoubtedly proven to be an enormous achievement, not only for the company, but for Curaçao as well, which also holds an S&P rating of ‘A-’. TEXT HELEN GRIFFITH
This rating places the company in a stronger position to be able to finance future projects, not only for the growth of the company, but also for the overall development of the local economy. Standard and Poor’s Financial Services, LLC, (S&P), a division of S&P Global, is known for it’s stock market indices, as well as it’s internationally renowned credit ratings on public
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and private companies, as well as government entities. It is considered one of the three big credit rating agencies of the world. Aqualectra has worked very hard in recent years to improve, not only the efficiency of its production and operations, but also its customer service and financial stewardship, in order to raise the company out of debt into a level of financial stability. Given the financial
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and operational status of the company just a few years back, S&P’s ‘A-‘ credit rating is an even greater testimony to the hard work and due diligence of the team members of Aqualectra. And indeed, there’s more to it than meets the eye.
A Pivotal Moment During the period of 2010 to 2012, Aqualectra was suddenly faced with severe financial distress due to large material losses at the time as a result of an abrupt tariff reduction. The company was indeed unprepared for this sudden downturn and had no pre-established safety net. The management team was forced to develop a turnaround plan to help the company overcome its financial hurdles. This plan consisted of the development of a number of different projects and financial strategies, the major ones being:
