Fitch downgrades Mexico’s Unifin to ‘D’ on bankruptcy proceedings

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Fitch Ratings on Friday downgraded Mexican leasing firm Unifin Financiera’s long and short-term local and foreign currency issuer default ratings (IDRs) to ‘D’ from ‘RD’ due to the firm’s announced restructuring process.

“The downgrades reflect that a bankruptcy proceeding is ongoing, as signaled by the announcement made by the company,” Fitch said, as it also cut Unifin’s long and short-term national scale ratings to ‘D(mex)’ from ‘RD(mex)’.

Fitch noted that the company is “not paying any of its creditors”, its grace periods under its debt instruments have expired and that is not “originating loans or leases.”

The agency maintained the company’s senior notes and hybrid securities at ‘C’.

Unifin had on Nov. 8 announced that a Mexican court approved its voluntary application for declaration of bankruptcy, after being forced to advance the bankruptcy filing to “protect” assets from legal proceedings.

(Reporting by Carolina Pulice; Editing by Anthony Esposito and Sarah Morland)