London, 07 July 2015 -- Moody's Investors Service has today confirmed RussNeft's corporate family
rating (CFR) and probability of default rating (PDR) at B2 and B2-PD,
respectively. The action concludes the review for downgrade initiated
on 20 February 2015. The outlook on the ratings is negative.
"We have confirmed RussNeft's B2 rating following successful
debt restructuring efforts in partnership with Bank VTB, its largest
creditor, which will make it much easier for the company to service
its current debts," says Julia Pribytkova, a Moody's
Vice President -- Senior Analyst.
RATINGS RATIONALE
Today's confirmation of Russneft's ratings primarily reflects
the completion of debt restructuring and achievement of a sustainable
liquidity profile by the company for the medium term. The company's
payments under its $2.3 billion loan from Bank VTB,
JSC (VTB, Ba2 negative) will not exceed $40.0 million
a year until March 2018, providing for a comfortable debt service
profile.
Moody's previous action on RussNeft was on 20 February 2015 when
the agency downgraded the company to B2 from Ba3, and maintained
it on review for downgrade. The action was triggered by the company's
anticipated difficulty servicing its debt and complying with the financial
covenants embedded in the loans provided by VTB.
Recently completed debt restructuring orchestrated by VTB simplified the
company's debt/capital structure. As of end-May 2015,
total debt amounted to $5.4 billion, of which third-party
debt was almost entirely represented by the $2.3 billion
loan from VTB, the company's largest creditor. The
VTB loan has been increased for the amount of the converted-into-debt
$0.7 billion guarantee issued by RussNeft in favour of its
beneficiary Mr. Gutseriev. Other debt is represented by
approximately $3.0 billion worth of promissory notes issued
to related parties, including $0.8 billion of converted
payables to Neftisa group (unrated), and $1.3 billion
issued to the leading diversified natural resources group Glencore International
AG (Glencore, Baa2 stable), which remains a shareholder at
the level of RussNeft's various operating subsidiaries and the company's
second-largest creditor. RussNeft expects to convert up
to $900 million of Glencore debt into equity at the company's
holding level.
Moody's notes that the conversion of payables and addition to debt following
M&A activity increased RussNeft's leverage measured by gross
debt/EBITDA to more than 7.0x in 2015. However, third
party debt/EBITDA remains within the rating agency's expectations
at 2.8x. All promissory notes are contractually subordinated
to the VTB loan, which fully amortises by 2023.
Moody's foresees material refinancing risk for RussNeft starting
from March 2018, when the company will have to repay $500
million a year, an amount exceeding the company's current
cash flow generation.
RussNeft has no rated debt.
RATIONALE FOR NEGATIVE OUTLOOK
The negative outlook on the company's ratings reflects Moody's expectation
that RussNeft will further evolve in the medium term, which may
involve merging into other holdings of the beneficiary (which are not
within the rated perimeter, such as Neftisa), and engaging
in meaningful asset transfer transactions with related parties.
Although debt restructuring resulted in VTB exercising greater control
over RussNeft's debt/capital structure, Moody's notes that
the visibility on the company's future asset composition, long-term
capital structure, production profile and financial policies,
as well as information disclosure, remains very limited.
WHAT COULD CHANGE THE RATING UP/DOWN
Moody's could upgrade RussNeft if it demonstrated (1) greater clarity
and stability over its reserves, production and cash flow generation
profile, addressing Moody's longer term liquidity concerns;
(2) an ability to maintain profitability and reserves replacement ratios
commensurate with industry levels; (3) clarity on the group's assets
composition and organisational structure; and (4) improvements to
the company's capitalisation profile via conversion of part of the shareholder
debt to equity.
Conversely, Moody's would consider a negative rating action if RussNeft's
financial and/or operating profile were to deteriorate beyond Moody's
current expectations. Lack of transparency over future cash flow
generation capacity, including that resulting from related-party
transactions would also exert pressure on the ratings.
PRINCIPAL METHODOLOGY
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Global Independent
Exploration and Production Industry published in December 2011.
Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com for
a copy of this methodology.
Headquartered in Moscow, RussNeft operates a number of oilfields
on the territory of Russia. The company had more than 706.6
million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) of proven oil and gas reserves
in accordance with the Society of Petroleum Engineers' Petroleum Resources
Management System (PRMS-SPE) classification (based on proportionate
ownership) as at 31 December 2014. In 2014, RussNeft reported
$2.9 billion in revenue and its Moody's -- adjusted
EBITDA amounted to $0.9 billion.
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.
Julia Pribytkova
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service Limited, Russian Branch
7th floor, Four Winds Plaza
21 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya St.
Moscow 125047
Russia
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Victoria Maisuradze
Associate Managing Director
Corporate Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
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Moody's confirms RussNeft's B2 rating, negative outlook