Moscow, February 25, 2015 -- Moody's Interfax Rating Agency has today downgraded the national scale
ratings of 13 Russian regions and municipalities and 1 government-related
entity.
At the same time, it confirmed the ratings of 3 Russian regions
and 1 city. This concludes the review for downgrade of these ratings
that was initiated on 21 January 2015.
These rating actions follow the weakening of Russia's credit profile as
captured by Moody's downgrade of Russia's government bond
rating to Ba1 (negative outlook) from Baa3 (review for downgrade) on 20
February 2015. For additional information, please refer to
the related announcement: https://www.moodys.com/research/--PR_318857.
A full list of affected issuers and credit ratings can be found at the
end of this press release.
Please see ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on moodys.com
for information on Global Scale Rating.
RATINGS RATIONALE
--RATIONALE FOR DOWNGRADE OF RATINGS ON 13 RUSSIAN REGIONS
AND MUNICIPALITIES AND 1 GOVERNMENT-RELATED ENTITY
Moody's Interfax has downgraded the national scale ratings of the City
of Moscow, City of St. Petersburg, SUE Vodokanal of
St. Petersburg, Autonomous-Okrug (region) of Khanty-Mansiysk,
Samara Oblast, Republic of Komi, Krasnodar Krai, Krasnoyarsk
Krai, Belgorod Oblast, Oblast of Nizhniy Novgorod, Vologda
Oblast, Republic of Mordovia, City of Krasnodar and City of
Volgograd.
The downgrade of SUE Vodokanal of St. Petersburg reflects its status
as a government-related entity that is fully owned by the St.
Petersburg government.
The downgrade of the ratings of 13 Russian regional and local governments
(RLGs) reflects Moody's assessment of the increase in systemic risks
following the weakening of Russia's credit profile, as captured
in the downgrade of the sovereign bond rating. Moody's expects
Russia's economy to contract in 2015-16 due to the combined
effect of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and the collapse in oil prices
and the exchange rate on Russia, which will likely affect its economic
strength as well as the functioning of its financial markets. As
a result, Russian regions will face increasing pressure on their
financial fundamentals while higher borrowing costs could potentially
heighten refinancing and liquidity risks.
--RATIONALE FOR CONFIRMATION OF 4 RLGs' RATINGS
Moody's Interfax's confirmation of the ratings of 4 RLGs (Chuvashia
Republic, Moscow Oblast, Oblast of Omsk, City of Omsk)
reflect these entities' capacity to maintain credit profiles in their
rating categories despite growing systemic pressures. Systemic
pressures can be partially mitigated by some or a combination of the following
factors: (1) moderate level of market debt; (2) consistently
adequate budgetary performance; (3) relative stability of revenue
streams due to strong local economies or/and peculiarities of revenue
structure (e.g. for cities); (4) moderate to low refinancing
risks.
WHAT COULD CHANGE THE RATINGS UP/DOWN
Given the negative outlook assigned to the sovereign bond rating,
an upgrade of the ratings is unlikely. Further deterioration in
the sovereign's credit quality accompanied by the deterioration in their
credit profiles could exert downward pressure on these sub-sovereigns.
RATINGS AFFECTED
THE RATINGS OF THE FOLLOWING 14 ISSUERS WERE DOWNGRADED
Moscow, City of: issuer rating downgraded to Aa1.ru
from Aaa.ru.
St. Petersburg, City of: issuer and debt ratings downgraded
to Aa1.ru from Aaa.ru.
SUE Vodokanal of St. Petersburg: issuer rating downgraded
to Aa2.ru from Aa1.ru.
Khanty-Mansiysk AO: issuer rating downgraded to Aa2.ru
from Aa1.ru.
Samara, Oblast of: issuer and debt ratings downgraded to Aa3.ru
from Aa2.ru.
Komi, Republic of: issuer rating downgraded to A2.ru
from Aa3.ru.
Krasnodar, Krai of: issuer and debt ratings downgraded to
A2.ru from Aa3.ru.
Krasnoyarsk, Krai of: issuer rating downgraded to A2.ru
from Aa3.ru.
Belgorod, Oblast of: issuer and debt ratings downgraded to
A2.ru from Aa3.ru.
Nizhniy Novgorod, Oblast: issuer rating downgraded to A2.ru
from Aa3.ru.
Mordovia, Republic of: issuer and debt ratings downgraded
to Baa1.ru from A2.ru.
Krasnodar, City of: issuer rating downgraded to A2.ru
from Aa3.ru.
Vologda, Oblast of: issuer rating downgraded to Baa1.ru
from A2.ru.
Volgograd, City of: issuer rating downgraded to Baa1.ru
from A2.ru.
THE RATINGS OF THE FOLLOWING 4 ISSUERS WERE CONFIRMED
Moscow, Oblast of: issuer rating of Aa2.ru confirmed.
Chuvashia, Republic of: issuer and debt ratings of Aa3.ru
confirmed.
Omsk, Oblast of: issuer rating of Aa3.ru confirmed.
Omsk, City of: issuer rating of A2.ru confirmed.
The sovereign action required the publication of this credit rating action
on a date that deviates from the previously scheduled release date in
the sovereign release calendar, published on www.moodys.com.
Specific economic indicators as required by EU regulation are not applicable
for these entities.
On 19 February 2015, a rating committee was called to discuss the
ratings of the Russian sub-sovereign entities. The main
points raised during the discussion were: The systemic risk in which
the issuers operate has materially increased.
The principal methodology used in rating Russia RLGs was Regional and
Local Governments published in January 2013. The principal methodology
used in rating Russia GRIs was Government-Related Issuers published
in October 2014. Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of these methodologies.
The weighting of all rating factors is described in the methodology used
in this rating action, if applicable.
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.
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.
Vladlen Kuznetsov
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Sub-Sovereign 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
David M Rubinoff
MD - Sub-Sovereigns
Sub-Sovereign 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 takes rating actions on 18 Russian sub-sovereigns