Moscow, February 25, 2015 -- Moody's Interfax Rating Agency, which is majority-owned by
Moody's Investors Service (MIS), has today downgraded to Aa1.ru
from Aaa.ru the national scale issuer ratings of six Russian non-financial
corporates: OJSC Uralkali, OJSC PhosAgro, Russian Railways
Joint Stock Company, Federal Passenger Company OJSC, OJSC
MMC Norilsk Nickel, and OAO Novatek. At the same time,
Moody's has converted the national scale issuer ratings into national
scale corporate family ratings, in line with the rating agency's
practice for corporates with non-investment-grade global
scale ratings (GSRs). The Aaa.ru national scale corporate
family rating of NLMK was also downgraded to Aa1.ru.
Concurrently, Moody's Interfax has downgraded to Aa3.ru from
Aa2.ru the national scale corporate family rating of Russian Helicopters
JSC.
The national scale corporate family ratings of Russian Railways Joint
Stock Company and Federal Passenger Company OJSC remain under review for
downgrade.
Except for the issuers that continue to be on review, this rating
action concludes the review for downgrade that commenced on 23 December
2014 and 20 January 2015.
Please see ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on moodys.com
for information on Global Scale Rating.
RATINGS RATIONALE
Today's action follows the downgrade of GSRs of the eight non-financial
corporates, two of which remain on review for further downgrade.
Please see MIS's press release of 25 February 2015 for details https://www.moodys.com/research/--PR_319077.
The GSR actions reflect the weakening of Russia's s macroeconomic and
financial climate, as captured by Moody's downgrade of Russia's
government bond rating to Ba1/Not Prime (NP) from Baa3/Prime-3
(P-3) on Friday 20 February, with a negative outlook.
Concurrently, Moody's lowered Russia's country ceilings for foreign
currency debt to Ba1/NP from Baa3/P-3; its country ceilings
for local currency debt and deposits to Baa3 from Baa2; and its country
ceiling for foreign currency bank deposits to Ba2/NP from Ba1/NP.
A country ceiling generally indicates the highest rating level that any
issuer domiciled in that country can attain for instruments of that type
and currency denomination. For additional information, please
refer to the related announcement https://www.moodys.com/research/--PR_318857.
PRINCIPAL METHODOLOGY
The principal methodology used in rating NLMK was Global Steel Industry
published in October 2012.
The principal methodology used in rating OAO Novatek was Global Independent
Exploration and Production Industry published in December 2011.
The principal methodology used in rating Federal Passenger Company OJSC
was Global Passenger Railway Companies published in March 2013.
The principal methodology used in rating Russian Railways Joint Stock
Company was Global Surface Transportation and Logistics Companies published
in April 2013. Other methodologies used include Government-Related
Issuers published in October 2014.
The principal methodology used in rating OJSC Uralkali and OJSC PhosAgro
was Global Chemical Industry Rating Methodology published in December
2013.
The principal methodology used in rating OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel was Global
Mining Industry published in August 2014.
The principal methodology used in rating Russian Helicopters JSC was Global
Aerospace and Defense Industry published in April 2014. Other methodologies
used include Government-Related Issuers published in October 2014.
Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com for
a copy of these methodologies.
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 June 2014 entitled "Mapping
Moody's National Scale Ratings to Global Scale Ratings".
ABOUT MOODY'S AND MOODY'S INTERFAX
Moody's Interfax Credit 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.
The below contact information is provided for information purposes only.
Please see the ratings tab of the issuer page at www.moodys.com,
for each of the ratings covered, Moody's disclosures on the
lead analyst and the Moody's legal entity that has issued the ratings.
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.
Denis Perevezentsev
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Interfax Rating Agency
7th floor, Four Winds Plaza
21 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya St.
Moscow 125047
Russia
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Victoria Maisuradze
Associate Managing Director
Corporate Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Releasing Office:
Moody's Interfax Rating Agency
7th floor, Four Winds Plaza
21 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya St.
Moscow 125047
Russia
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Moody's Interfax downgrades the ratings of eight Russian non-financial corporates