THE US debt rating agency Moody's Investors Service yesterday raised its rating on GPA group following the completion of the company's sale of $4.05 billion of pass through certificates, writes Sean O Murchu in New York.

Moody's raised the debt rating on GPA's senior unsecured debt from Caa to BI.

GPA's offering, the largest aircraft lease backed issue in US history, allowed the company to refinance $2.8 billion of its debt obligations and, as a result, its remaining balance sheet debt is approximately $1.2 billion.

Moody's noted that since 1993, GPA had "resolved ongoing litigation with several airframe and engine manufacturers and it had actively divested several loss making subsidiaries and associated companies".