SUEZ Water Resources LLC

The stable outlook on SWR reflects our view of SWR's low-risk, rate-regulated water and wastewater utility operations as well as our expectation that management will continue to reach constructive regulatory outcomes and avoid any substantial rise in business risk. The outlook also reflects our base-case forecast of adjusted FFO to debt at SWR and SUEZ Utility Holdings Inc. of about 13%-16% over the next few years. Furthermore, the outlook reflects our expectation that the company's unrated ultimate parent SUEZ will continue to maintain a diverse mix of businesses and financial measures that do not materially deviate from our current view of the overall group credit profile. We could lower our ratings on SWR over the next 24 months if SUEZ

...Suez Water Resources LLC's business risk assessment underpins the 'A' issuer credit rating. As one of the larger investor-owned water utility companies in the U.S., Suez Water Resources LLC (SWR) effectively manages regulatory risk and benefits from some geographic and regulatory diversity. S&P Global Ratings assesses SWR's business risk profile as being at the higher half of the range for its business-risk category. Insulating measures between SWR and ultimate parent SUEZ S.A. support our ability to rate SWR as a stand-alone entity, with very limited link to the group credit profile of its parent. In particular, SWR is not dependent on SUEZ for operational or financial matters and significant insulating governance rights are in place for the minority shareholder of SUEZ Utility Holdings Inc., the unrated intermediary holding company between SWR and SUEZ. Veolia's announced bid for 29.9% of SUEZ has no ratings impact for SWR at this time. Although there is potential for a takeover acquisition...

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