Quebecor Media Inc.’s leverage may decline through cash flow “in the short and medium term,” even though management doesn’t have a credit-rating upgrade among its goals, according to its chief financial officer.

“Our cash flow is looking very healthy going forward so maybe there maybe some deleveraging going forward as well,” Hugues Simard said in a telephone interview. “Getting to an investment grade isn’t an objective we have set specifically.”

Earlier this week, Quebecor Media’s cable and internet provider unit Videotron Ltd. raised $800 million in Canada’s largest high-yield offering on record. Quebecor Media’s ratio of debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization is at about three times, he said.

The cable company priced the 10-year bonds on Tuesday to yield 4.5 per cent after receiving orders for more than $2 billion, said Simard, who is a Harvard Business School alumni. A total of 63 buyers took part in the transaction. The bonds which were first priced at par are quoted at about $100.375 cents, according to Bloomberg Valuation mid prices.

Credit Profile

“This transaction is demonstrating that we are appealing not only to high-yield investors but also to investment-grade investors,” said Simard. “We feel that our credit profile is pretty good at this point.”

Videotron will use the proceeds from the bond sale to reduce the drawn portion of its $1.5 billion credit facility to about $100 million from about $900 million before the sale, he said. The company doesn’t have any specific plan for additional bonds though “we keep monitoring market conditions.”

While leverage may decline in a “natural” manner, there are other considerations including dividend yield or stock buyback, he said. The issued priced this week, “gives us the flexibility that we were looking for, said Simard.

S&P Global Ratings grades Quebecor Media and Videotron at BB+, or one step below investment grade, while Moody’s Investors Service has it at the equivalent rating, Ba1.

Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada and Scotiabank were the bookrunners of the deal, Bloomberg data show.