Fitch Affirms Maine Health & Higher Educational Facilities Authority's Revs at 'AA'

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Fitch Ratings has affirmed its 'AA' rating on Maine Health and Higher Educational Facilities Authority's $1.3 billion in outstanding revenue bonds.

The Rating Outlook is Stable.

Fitch's cash flow modeling demonstrates that the program can continue to pay bond debt service even with loan defaults in excess of Fitch's 'AAA' liability default hurdle, as per its newly released 'State Revolving Fund and Leveraged Municipal Loan Pool Criteria' and Portfolio Stress Calculator (PSC). Liability default hurdles derived by the PSC are calculated based on overall pool credit quality as measured by the rating of underlying borrowers, size, loan term, and concentration.

Additional information is available in the June 7 press release, "Fitch Rates Maine Health & Higher Educational Facilities Authority's $40.5MM Revs 'AA', available at 'www.fitchratings.com'.

Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'. The ratings above were solicited by, or on behalf of, the issuer, and therefore, Fitch has been compensated for the provision of the ratings.

Applicable Criteria and Related Research:

--'Revenue-Supported Rating Criteria' (June 12, 2012);

--'State Revolving Fund and Leveraged Municipal Loan Pool Criteria' (May 21, 2012);

--'Rating Guidelines for State Credit Enhancement Programs' (June 19, 2012);

--'Counterparty Criteria for Structured Finance Transactions' (May 30, 2012).

Applicable Criteria and Related Research:

Revenue-Supported Rating Criteria

http://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=681015

State Revolving Fund and Leveraged Municipal Loan Pool Criteria

http://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=677858

Rating Guidelines for State Credit Enhancement Programs

http://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=681239

Counterparty Criteria for Structured Finance Transactions

http://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=678938

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Fitch Ratings
Primary Analyst
Major Parkhurst
Director
[phone]
Fitch, Inc., 111 Congress Ave. Suite #2010, Austin, TX 78701
or
Secondary Analyst
Adrienne M. Booker
Senior Director
[phone]
or
Committee Chairperson
Doug Scott
Managing Director
[phone]
or
Media Relations:
Elizabeth Fogerty, [phone] (New York)
[e-mail]

Source: Fitch Ratings