Moody's Investors Service has assigned a provisional (P)Ba2 senior unsecured rating to Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD's (BEH) proposed bond issuance, the company has said.

It normally issues provisional ratings in advance of the final sale of securities to voice its preliminary credit opinion with regard to the transaction only, with a definitive rating possibly differing from a provisional one.

BEH's (P)Ba1 corporate family rating has meanwhile been affirmed, with a stable outlook.

The senior unsecured rating is positioned one notch below the corporate family rating, which reflects the structural subordination of the creditors at the holding company to those in the operating subsidiaries.

Upward rating potential is limited, Moody's also says, citing "uncertainties over the settlement of the Belene arbitration award and the timing and nature of the full liberalization of the wholesale electricity market and its impact on BEH."