LOS ANGELES — The substitution of new letters of credit caused Standard & Poor's to boost the long-term ratings on Clark County, Nevada's series 2008C-2 and 2008C-3 airport system subordinate-lien revenue bonds, issued for Las Vegas McCarran International Airport, four notches to AAA from A-plus.
S&P assigned A-1-plus and A-1 short-term ratings on the 2008C-2 and 2008C-3 bonds, respectively, according to a Feb. 20 report.
The dual ratings reflect S&P's view of new irrevocable direct-pay letters of credit provided by State Street Bank and Trust Co., rated AA/A-1-plus, for the 2008C-2 bonds, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., rated A-plus/A-1 for the 2008C-3 bonds, substituting prior LOCs from Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, which Standard & Poor's no longer rates.
The long-term component of the ratings is based jointly on the A-plus underlying rating of Las Vegas McCarran International Airport, and the long-term ratings on the LOC providers.
The short-term components of the ratings are based solely on the short-term ratings on the bonds' respective LOC providers.
The airport had $4.4 billion in total long-term and short-term debt obligations outstanding as of June 30, 2014, according to its comprehensive annual financial report for Dec. 31, 2014.
The debt includes $975.9 million in senior lien debt, $1,988.9 million in subordinate lien debt, $970.5 million in PFC-pledged debt, $146.9 million in third lien debt, and $292.6 million in short-term notes, according to the CAFR. All the current outstanding debt is naturally or synthetically fixed interest rate debt, with an average interest rate for FY 2014 of approximately 4.9 percent.
