PORTLAND (AP) — Central Maine Power Co. is taking steps to reduce the impact of problems facing its Spanish parent company, Iberdrola SA.
CMP asked the Maine Public Utilities Commission for permission to increase the ratio it maintains between equity and debt with the twofold goal of making it more difficult to take money from CMP and to avoid getting hurt by credit-rating agencies that downgraded Iberdrola.
The Portland Press Herald says the case was filed in October but took on greater importance after Standard & Poor’s Rating Services dropped its rating of Iberdrola to two notches above “junk” status. Its U.S. subsidiaries are capped at that level.
Standard & Poor’s said Iberdrola’s profitability is threatened because it gets half its revenue from Spain, which is mired in a recession.
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