Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. (fka PTQMF)

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Rating Action: Moody's Withdraws Petaquilla Ratings
Global Credit Research - 22 Jan 2013

Toronto, January 22, 2013 -- Moody's Investors Service withdrew all ratings on Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. as the ratings were based on a proposed debt transaction that did not occur. The company will instead pursue an alternate debt transaction for which it has not asked Moody's to rate. The affected ratings consist of Petaquilla's Caa1 corporate family rating, Caa1-PD probability of default rating, Caa1 senior secured rating and SGL-3 speculative grade liquidity rating.


Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Petaquilla Mineral Ltd. is a gold production and exploration company with one operating mine in Panama and several exploration properties in Panama, Spain and Portugal. Revenue for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2012 was $93 million with about 70 thousand gold equivalent ounces produced.


The principal methodology used in rating Petaquilla was the Global Mining Industry published in May 2009. Other methodologies used include Loss Given Default for Speculative-Grade Non-Financial Companies in the U.S., Canada and EMEA published in June 2009. Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com for a copy of these methodologies.


REGULATORY DISCLOSURES


For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt, this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series or category/class of debt or pursuant to a program for which the ratings are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider, this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation to the rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular rating action for securities that derive their credit ratings from the support provider's credit rating. For provisional ratings, this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation to the provisional rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive rating that may be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt, in each case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed prior to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would have affected the rating. For further information please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.


For any affected securities or rated entities receiving direct credit support from the primary entity(ies) of this rating action, and whose ratings may change as a result of this rating action, the associated regulatory disclosures will be those of the guarantor entity. Exceptions to this approach exist for the following disclosures, if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.


Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has issued the rating.

Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.

Darren M. Kirk
VP - Senior Credit Officer
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Canada Inc.
70 York Street
Suite 1400
Toronto, ON M5J 1S9
Canada
[phone]

Donald S. Carter, CFA
MD - Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance Group
[phone]

Releasing Office:
Moody's Canada Inc.
70 York Street
Suite 1400
Toronto, ON M5J 1S9
Canada
[phone]

http://www.moodys.com/page/viewresearchdoc.aspx?docid=PR_264159&WT.mc_id=NLTITLE_YYYYMMDD_PR_264159