Moody's assigns Baa3/Aaa.ru to Rosbank's domestic bonds programme
MOSCOW. Oct 22 (Interfax) - Moody's Investors Service has assigned a Baa3 long-term local currency debt rating to the local currency-denominated bond programme of JSB Rosbank (Russia), the agency said in a press release.
The bonds issued under the programme will represent a senior unsecured claim on the company.
Concurrently, Moody's Interfax Rating Agency assigned a long-term national scale rating (NSR) of Aaa.ru to this programme.
The outlook on the global scale debt rating is stable, while the national scale rating carries no specific outlook.
The total volume of Rosbank's programme is RUB30 billion (approximately USD1.0 billion) and this incorporates six bond issues in the amount of RUB5 billion each with maturities of 3, 4 and 5 years, and semi-annual coupon payments. Moody's also notes that the bond issues may embed put options.
The assigned Baa3/Aaa.ru ratings are in line with Rosbank's existing senior unsecured debt rating and issuer NSR.
The obligations of Rosbank to make payments under the bonds will rank -- at all times -- at least pari-passu with the claims of all other unsecured and unsubordinated creditors of the company, except for those claims that are preferred by any relevant law.
The ratings of the programme do not immediately apply to any individual notes issued under the programme. Ratings on individual notes issued under Rosbank's programme are subject to Moody's satisfactory review of the terms and conditions set forth in the final prospectuses, supplements, or offering memorandums of the notes to be issued.
Furthermore, Moody's does not intend to assign the programme rating to individual notes issued under the programme with features which are either linked to the performance of another obligor (credit-linked notes) or linked to notes for which payment of principal and/or interest is variable and contractually dependent on the occurrence of a non-credit-linked event or the performance of an index (non-credit-linked notes). The potential exception relates to notes whose principal and coupon payments are affected by standard sources of variation.
Moody's previous rating action on Rosbank was on 14 April 2009 when the outlook on the bank's Baa3 global long-term local and foreign currency deposit ratings and the Baa3 foreign currency debt ratings assigned to the debt issuance programme of Rosbank Finance S.A. was changed to stable from positive.
The bank was Russia's 10th largest by assets, according to the Interfax-100 ranking at the end of the first half of 2009.