Moody’s Drops Methodist

Moody’s Investors Service last week withdrew its Ba3 rating on Methodist Hospital after it failed to provide sufficient financial information.

The system has $69.3 million of outstanding bonds and operates three hospitals, two in Gary and one in Merrillville. The Indiana Health Facility Financing Authority was the conduit issuer.

In June Moody’s put junked-rated Methodist on its watchlist. The hospital has not yet given Moody’s the information, and analysts said they have decided to withdraw the ratings as a result.

“In the absence of this information, Moody’s believes that it is unable to provide investors with an informed assessment of the current credit quality of this debt instrument,” Moody’s said.

Analysts noted that the hospital had seen operating performance improvement and liquidity growth in 2009 and 2010.

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Healthcare industry Indiana
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