Vista Global's $1 billion notes get final 'BB-' rating from Fitch

The notes issued by XO Management Holding, Inc. and VistaJet Malta Finance PLC had been upsized to $1 billion from the originally planned $800 million

Fitch Ratings has assigned Vista Global Holding’s $1 billion notes a final senior unsecured rating of ‘BB-‘ with a Recovery Rating of ‘RR3’. The rating is one notch above Vista Global’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of ‘B+,’ which has a Stable Outlook.

The bonds were jointly issued by Vista’s subsidiaries, XO Management Holding, Inc. and VistaJet Malta Finance PLC.

Vista offers jet card memberships via its XO Global and VistaJet units.

According to Fitch, the notes have been upsized to $1 billion from the originally planned $800 million.

Fitch says the upsize, along with planned fundraising in relation to recently announced Air Hamburg’s acquisition, reduces the recovery prospect of senior unsecured claim to ‘RR3’ from ‘RR2’.

There is no impact on the rating as the Recovery Rating was capped at ‘RR3.’ That was in accordance with Fitch’s country-specific recovery rating criteria.

“We view the planned acquisition of Air Hamburg as rating neutral, despite modestly higher leverage in 2022 through 2024 due to the upfront purchase funding, mitigated by larger scale and synergies expected. Vista Global and Air Hamburg are the largest charter operators in Europe,” Fitch wrote in announcing its rating.

A Vista spokesperson recently said the company has no current plans to go public via a SPAC merger.

It was recently in discussions to acquire Jet Edge.