Wednesday, Jun 03, 2009
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Saad Group, the Saudi conglomerate owned by billionaire Maan Al Sanea, has appointed an advisory firm to help it restructure its debt as pressure on the company increased after credit agencies withdrew their ratings due to a lack of clarity regarding Saad's operations.
"Further to the Saad Group's restructuring plan, the group is pleased to announce the appointment of BDO Capital Finance ... to advise the group on its restructuring plans, which are currently under development," the company said in a June 2 statement emailed to Zawya Dow Jones Wednesday.
Al Khobar-based Saad Group, one of Saudi Arabia's biggest privately held companies, said it had appointed the advisory firm to help it restructure debt requirements at the group and its Bahraini Awal Bank unit.
"Both the Saad Group and Awal Bank are confident of a successful restructuring," Saad said in the statement.
Moody's Investors Service's late Tuesday announced that it had withdrawn all its Saad Group ratings in light of developments at the company because it "believes it lacks adequate information to maintain the ratings."
According to Moody's, Cayman Islands-based Saad Group and its subsidiaries had total assets of $30.6 billion at the end of 2008.
In a separate move Tuesday, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services withdrew its ratings on Saad after it had slashed its long-term and short-term corporate credit ratings on Saad Group and related entities to 'D/D,' or default from 'BBB+/A-2'.
-By Oliver Klaus, Dow Jones Newswires, +9714 364 4962 Oliver.Klaus@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Co.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
03-06-09 0753GMT
