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Moody's takes rating action on 16 Russian corporates
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YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS: Moody's Investors Service said Wednesday it had downgraded toBa1 fromBaa3 the ratings of14 Russian non-financial corporates and their supported subsidiaries, Armenpress reports, citing Sputnik News.
The list ofaffected companies includes Gazprom, Rosneft, Lukoil, Novatek, Russian Railways, Norilsk Nikel, Uralkali, aswell asMegaFon and MTS.
Moody's has also "downgraded the CFR and PDR ofRussian Helicopters JSC toBa3/Ba3-PD fromBa2/Ba2-PD, respectively."
At the same time, Moody's confirmed the Ba1 rating ofone non-financial corporate, Severstal OAO, witha Ba1-PD PDR.
"The weakening ofRussia's credit profile, ascaptured byMoody's downgrade ofthe sovereign and Russia's country ceilings toBa1 fromBaa3 withnegative outlook, has prompted the rating actions on16 non-financial corporates asthey face an increasingly challenging domestic operating environment," the agency said ina statement.
The agency also said that resilience ofRussian non-financial corporates tothe risks arising fromthe "prevailing negative operating conditions" inthe domestic market was likely tobe limited. It underscored, however, the willingness ofRussian government toprovide support tocompanies inthe event ofneed.
The New York-based bond credit rating agency assigned a negative outlook tothe ratings ofall affected companies, exceptfor those ofRussian Railways JSC, Federal Passenger Company OJSC and Mobile TeleSystems OJSC. The three are onreview forfurther downgrade.
This comes afterMoody's cut Russia's sovereign debt rating toBa1 last Friday, citing the situation inUkraine and slumping oil prices. It then proceeded todowngrade seven Russian financial institutions onTuesday, and also 15 regional and local governments, including Moscow, due toRussia's weakening credit profile.
Many experts have argued that the three major rating agencies have made biased judgments withregard toRussia based onthe geopolitical situation.
Russia's Finance Ministry has stressed that the downgrades are based onan excessively pessimistic forecast, are politically motivated and do not reflect the real market situation.
