Leighton Holdings on Thursday disputed Standard & Poor’s Rating Service’s (S&P) decision to downgrade its credit rating from ‘BBB/A-2’ to ‘BBB-/A/3’, claiming it was not a true reflection of the company’s credit quality.

Leighton Holdings' Chief Financial Officer Peter Gregg explained the decision has been made primarily on the back of S&P’s assessment of the credit quality of Leighton’s German-based parent Hochtief AG and their potential influence over the business.

“We believe this is an unfair assessment and one that is not borne out either by the governance arrangements that we have in place or many years of practice,” said Mr Gregg.

“Hochtief AG has been, and continues to be, a supportive shareholder,” he said.

“S&P acknowledge that “the company’s standalone credit quality remains satisfactory”, that our “liquidity profile is adequate” and that our “current capital structure should enable it (Leighton) to withstand potential cost increases arising from performance risks related to its project portfolio”.

“We believe that for all of these reasons S&P should have retained Leighton’s BBB credit rating and we will continue to advocate that Leighton deserves a higher credit rating given our inherent strength,” said Mr Gregg.