B3 S.A. - Brasil, Bolsa, Balcao -- Moody's rates B3's proposed BRL 205 million debenture issuance Ba1 and Aaa.br

Rating Action: Moody's rates B3's proposed BRL 205 million debenture issuance Ba1 and Aaa.br

Global Credit Research - 23 Dec 2020

Sao Paulo, December 23, 2020 -- Moody's America Latina (MAL) has today assigned a Ba1 global scale and Aaa.br Brazilian national scale ratings to B3 S.A. -- Brasil, Bolsa, Balcao's proposed local currency debenture issuance. The debentures will be issued in Brazilian reals with a target issue amount of BRL 205 million and the proceeds of the issue will be used for reimbursement of expenses and costs, construction and or refurbishment of offices in the city of Sao Paulo. The planned maturity of the debentures is 10 years.

Assignments:

B3 S.A. -- Brasil, Bolsa, Balcao:

- Global local currency unsecured debenture rating of Ba1

- Brazilian national scale local currency unsecured debenture rating of Aaa.br

RATINGS RATIONALE

B3 S.A. -- Brasil, Bolsa, Balcao's (B3) global scale and national scale unsecured debenture ratings of Ba1 and Aaa.br respectively stem from B3's long term senior unsecured and issuer ratings of Ba1.

B3's long term senior unsecured and issuer ratings incorporate the benefits to creditors from its increasing earnings, high pretax margins and cash flow generation, which will remain strong over the next 12 -18 months,. Our assessment also takes into consideration B3's rising but manageable leverage and the company's increased dividend payout targets which will be maintained in 2020. B3's ratings are positioned one notch above Brazil's Ba2 sovereign rating, reflecting B3's dominant market position, diverse revenue base and resilient financial performance through Brazil`s last recession, subsequent tepid economic recovery and in 2020 during the pandemic. However, B3 does have a strong credit linkage to Brazilian sovereign risk given that its cash position and the majority of its settlement funds that safeguard it from counterparty default are invested in Brazilian government bonds.

B3 reported revenue growth of 41% and pre-tax income of BRL 3.9 billion (US$ 756 million) in the first nine months of 2020, an increase of 64% versus a year earlier, illustrating its increased scale. Pre-tax margin was over 700 basis points above that in 2019. Moody's expects B3 to continue to post strong financial results in 2020 as Brazil`s low interest rate environment will continue to shift investor risk appetite toward equity and other riskier investments, and away from fixed income. Combined with increased market volatility in the wake of coronavirus B3`s core businesses experienced record trading volumes in 2020, including a high volume of initial public offerings and follow ons. Moody`s also said that B3 offers services for which it has no competition, particularly in cash equities trading and post trading, and that its business model enables it to generate increased revenue during periods of market volatility, when equities and interest rate and currency derivative volumes rise.