Venezuela-based oil and gas company PDVSA has completed a debt exchange offer, whereby it exchanged 31.4% of its $3.0 billion 5.25% senior unsecured notes due 2017 and 45.30% of its $4.1 billion 8.5% senior unsecured notes due 2017 for new 8.50% $3.3 billion senior secured notes due 2020. We're raising our corporate credit rating on PDVSA to 'CCC-' from 'SD'. At the same time, we're raising our issue-level ratings on the remaining outstanding amount of the company's 5.25% senior unsecured notes and on its 8.5% senior unsecured notes to 'CCC-' from 'D'. The negative outlook on PDVSA reflects the high debt and upcoming maturities in 2017 that could lead to another distressed exchange of the company's debt obligations in the
