Moscow, February 10, 2014 -- Moody's Interfax Rating Agency has today affirmed the Aa1.ru
national scale rating (NSR) of Russian Grids, JSC; the Aaa.ru
NSR of FGC UES, JSC, Russian Grids' subsidiary,
which operates the Russian national transmission grid; and the Aa2.ru
NSR of five Russian Grids' subsidiaries, which operate distribution
grids: IDGC of Center and Volga Region, JSC, IDGC of
Urals, JSC, IDGC of Volga, JSC, Lenenergo,
JSC and MOESK, OJSC. Moody's Interfax is majority-owned
by Moody's Investors Service (MIS).
Please see ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on moodys.com
for information on Global Scale Rating.
RATINGS RATIONALE
The affirmation of Russian Grids' and their six subsidiaries' NSRs
follows the affirmation of their global scale ratings by MIS: the
Ba1 corporate family rating (CFR) of Russian Grids, the Baa3 senior
unsecured ratings of FGC UES, and the Ba2 CFRs of IDGC of Center
and Volga Region, IDGC of Urals, IDGC of Volga, Lenenergo,
and MOESK. Please see MIS's press release of 7 February 2014 for
details.
PRINCIPAL METHODOLOGIES
The methodologies used in rating Russian Grids, JSC and FGC UES,
JSC were Regulated Electric and Gas Networks published in August 2009,
and the Government-Related Issuers: Methodology Update published
in July 2010. Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of these methodologies.
The principal methodology used in rating IDGC of Center and Volga Region,
JSC, IDGC of Urals, JSC, IDGC of Volga, JSC,
Lenenergo, JSC and MOESK, OJSC was Regulated Electric and
Gas Networks published in August 2009. Please see the Credit Policy
page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.
Headquartered in the city of Moscow, Russian Grids is the holding
company for FGC UES and 14 interregional and regional distribution grid
subsidiaries. The Russian government owns a 85.31%
stake in Russian Grids. Russian Grids' operating grid subsidiaries
are regulated natural monopolies, whose electricity transportation
revenues accounted for around 80.8% of the group's 6M 2013
consolidated revenue of RUB348.8 billion ($11.4 billion),
with FGC UES assumed to be consolidated from the beginning of 2013.
Headquartered in Moscow, Russia, FGC UES is the monopoly electricity
transmission system operator in the Russian Federation. The company's
revenues amounted to RUB140.3 billion (around $4.5
billion) in 2012 (other operating income of RUB3.5 billion,
primarily from non-core activities, is not included).
FGC is 80.6% owned by Russian Grids.
Headquartered in the city of Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia, IDGC
of Center and Volga Region is an interregional electricity distribution
grid business, focused on nine regions in the European part of Russia.
IDGC of Center and Volga Region's 2012 total revenues were RUB58.4
billion (around $1.9 billion). Russian Grids holds
50.4% of the company's voting shares.
Headquartered in the city of Yekaterinburg, Russia, IDGC of
Urals is an interregional electricity distribution grid business,
focused on three regions in the Urals: Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk
and Perm regions. The company's 2012 total revenues were RUB59.4
billion ($1.9 billion). Russian Grids holds 51.52%
of the company's voting shares.
Headquartered in the city of Saratov, Russia, IDGC of Volga
is an interregional electricity distribution company, focused on
seven regions in the European part of Russia. IDGC of Volga's 2012
total revenues were RUB45.9 billion ($1.5 billion).
Russian Grids holds 67.63% of the company's voting shares.
Headquartered in the city of St. Petersburg, Lenenergo is
one of Russia's major regional electricity distribution grid companies,
focused on the St. Petersburg region. Lenenergo's 2012 total
revenues were RUB38.1 billion (before normal technological losses),
or $1.2 billion. The largest shareholder of Lenenergo
is Russian Grids, which directly and indirectly holds 60.56%
of Lenenergo's voting shares. A blocking stake of 26.57%
of voting shares is owned by the government of the city of St.
Petersburg (Baa1 stable).
Headquartered in the city of Moscow, MOESK is Russia's largest regional
power distribution grid company servicing the Moscow region. MOESK's
2012 total revenues amounted to RUB125.3 billion ($4.0
billion). The largest shareholders of MOESK are the state-controlled
Russian Grids (50.9%); other major shareholders are
entities associated with OJSC Gazprom (Baa1 stable); and the Moscow
city government (Baa1 stable).
Moody's Interfax Rating Agency's National Scale Ratings (NSRs) are
intended as relative measures of creditworthiness among debt issues and
issuers within a country, enabling market participants to better
differentiate relative risks. NSRs differ from Moody's global scale
ratings in that they are not globally comparable with the full universe
of Moody's rated entities, but only with NSRs for other rated debt
issues and issuers within the same country. NSRs are designated
by a ".nn" country modifier signifying the relevant
country, as in ".ru" for Russia. For further
information on Moody's approach to national scale ratings, please
refer to Moody's Rating Methodology published in October 2012 entitled
"Mapping Moody's National Scale Ratings to Global Scale Ratings.
ABOUT MOODY'S AND MOODY'S INTERFAX
Moody's Interfax Rating Agency (MIRA) specializes in credit risk analysis
in Russia. MIRA is a joint-venture between Moody's Investors
Service, a leading provider of credit ratings, research and
analysis covering debt instruments and securities in the global capital
markets, and the Interfax Information Services Group. Moody's
Investors Service is a subsidiary of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:
MCO).
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.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
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.
Ekaterina Botvinova
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Infrastructure Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service Limited, Russian Branch
7th floor, Four Winds Plaza
21 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya St.
Moscow 125047
Russia
Telephone: +7 495 228 6060
Facsimile: +7 495 228 6091
Monica Merli
MD - Infrastructure Finance
Infrastructure Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Releasing Office:
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Moscow 125047
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Telephone: +7 495 228 6060
Facsimile: +7 495 228 6091
Moody's Interfax affirms NSRs of Russian Grids and six subsidiaries