Bulletin: Telus Corp.'s Equity Funded Network Investments Should Enhance Competitiveness

TORONTO (S&P Global Ratings) March 26, 2021--S&P Global Ratings today said it viewed Telus Corp.'s (BBB+/Negative/A-2) March 25, 2021, announcement of an equity offering to be credit positive but not sufficient to revise its negative outlook on the company. The offering, including the overallotment option, could bring in gross proceeds of C$1.5 billion that the company will use to accelerate capital expenditures, including buildout of Telus Fibre infrastructure and national 5G rollout. The accelerated investments include about C$500 million-C$750 million in 2021, and C$750 million-C$1 billion in 2022 is in addition to the annual C$2.75 billion budget; capex is then expected to reduce to C$2.5 billion or less in 2023. With the equity proceeds being used to fund accelerated capital

...March 26, 2021 TORONTO (S&P Global Ratings) March 26, 2021--S&P Global Ratings today said it viewed Telus Corp.'s (###+/Negative/A-2) March 25, 2021, announcement of an equity offering to be credit positive but not sufficient to revise its negative outlook on the company. The offering, including the overallotment option, could bring in gross proceeds of C$1.5 billion that the company will use to accelerate capital expenditures, including buildout of Telus Fibre infrastructure and national 5G rollout. The accelerated investments include about C$500 million-C$750 million in 2021, and C$750 million-C$1 billion in 2022 is in addition to the annual C$2.75 billion budget; capex is then expected to reduce to C$2.5 billion or less in 2023. With the equity proceeds being used to fund accelerated capital spending, we don't expect any additional deleveraging beyond our existing forecast in the next couple of years. However, we acknowledge that the investment acceleration should help market share gains,...

Bulletin