12 Nov 2003 17:01

Moody‘s Investors Service acquires minority stake in Interfax Rating Agency, extends cooperation with Interfax Group to CIS countries

Moody‘s Investors Service and Interfax Information Services Group have finalized the sale of a minority stake in the Interfax Rating Agency

Moody‘s Investors Service, a strategic partner to the Interfax Rating Agency over the past several years, has now become one of its shareholders.
The Interfax Rating Agency and Moody‘s Investors Service have also signed an agreement to extend their cooperation in the assignment ratings based on the national scale to the territory of Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
"Moody‘s affiliation with Interfax Rating Agency over the past two years has enhanced our ability to provide credit rating and research services in Russia and to assist Russian issuers seeking to access the international capital markets," said John Rutherfurd, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Moody‘s Corporation, the parent company of Moody‘s Investors Service.
"We are now exploring ways to expand our cooperation with Interfax to better meet the credit rating and research needs of firms operating in other countries within the region," he said.
"Moody‘s acquisition of a stake in the Interfax Rating Agency confirms that our ratings meet the highest international standards," said Mikhail Komissar, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Interfax Group. "We see in this step by the leading global ratings agency a recognition of the growing attractiveness of the Russian financial market."
The agreement is a great opportunity to expand for Interfax Rating Agency, which will now operate in other CIS countries as well as Russia, and guarantees that the service‘s standards will continue to rise, Komissar said.

Moody‘s Investors Service, a leading global credit rating, research and risk analysis firm, publishes credit opinions, research, and ratings on fixed-income securities, issuers of securities, and other credit obligations. The firm provides credit ratings and analysis on more than $30 trillion of debt covering approximately 136,000 corporate and government securities, 67,000 public finance obligations, 6,000 corporate and financial institution relationships, and 100 sovereign nations. Moody‘s is a subsidiary of Moody‘s Corporation, which employs approximately 2100 employees in 18 countries and had reported revenue of $1 billion in 2002.
More information on Moody‘s is available on their website www.moodys.com.




The Interfax Rating Agency, a member of the Interfax Information Services Group, specializes in the assessment of credit risks in Russia. The agency rates financial institutions, regional administrations and non-financial enterprises, as well as their individual liabilities.
The Interfax Rating Agency signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Moody‘s Investors Service in October 2001. Moody‘s Investors Service announced a decision to acquire an approximately 20% stake in the agency in June 2002.
The Interfax Rating Agency bases its ratings on the Russian rating scale. It has assigned its ratings to several dozen Russian securities issuers - banks, companies and the larger regions.
More information on the Interfax Rating Agency is available on the website http://rating.interfax.ru.