Standard And Poors News

Credit rating agency Fitch on Thursday downgraded Royal Dutch Shell following its acquisition of BG Group, citing risks to its asset sales goals to finance the $53 billion deal. Fitch downgraded Shell's Long-term Issuer Default Rating to 'AA-' from 'AA' and put it on negative outlook. Rival rating agency Standard and Poors announced a similar downgrade earlier this month, warning of a further possible lowering. Shell completed on Feb. 15 the acquisition of its smaller British rival, making its the world's top liquefied natural gas trader and a major deep water oil producer.

Richard J. Paine, Sr. is the President of Marine-Finance.Com, a maritime consulting firm specializing in the financing and leasing of commercial marine vessels and other equipment. He can be reached at rpaine@marine-finance.com or 516-431-9285. That glimmer on the horizon that you see is the first indication of a return to some normalcy in the marine lending marketplace. But don’t confuse it with a full-fledged sunrise, it is far from that. It is merely a tease, a harbinger of things to come.