Moody's assigns 'A1' rating to Christus Health bonds

Moody's Investor Service assigned an "A1" rating to Irving, Texas-based Christus Health's proposed bonds and affirmed an "A1" rating on the system's parity debt.

Moody's assigned its "A1" rating to the hospital's proposed $110.7 million Series 2018A, $27.9 million Series 2018D, $49.8 million Series 2019A revenue bonds as well as $327.9 million Series 2018B, $36.5 million Series 2018E,  and $339.1 million Series 2018C revenue refunding bonds.

The assignment is a result of several factors, including the health system's stable margin, strong market share, expected liquidity growth and limited capital needs.

The outlook was revised to negative from stable, reflecting the health system's modest liquidity and lack of performance improvement.