bbi ordinary dividend unlikely in 2009, page-31

yeah but think of it from the ratings agencies perspective. Companys need access to capital to survive and the only ones who can access capital now are blue chip equities and undergeared entities. BBI is neither and they dont deserve an investment grade rating, even if they had $500m less debt. I shudder to think whatwould have happened if QIC walked away. Companys with investment grade ratings dont default immediately and that was a possibility during the Powerco sale. The rating of B reflects this lack of access to capital as the ratings agency explicitly mentions the good operating performance of the underlying assets