MOSCOW (MRC) -- Moody's downgrades ratings of 8 non-financial corporations, including Rosneft, Gazprom Neft, Lukoil, Russian Railways, reported the agency.
Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the ratings of Rosneft, Gazprom Neft and 6 other non-financial corporations and their subsidiaries after downgrading Russia's sovereign rating, which it announced in a statement.
In particular, Moody's downgraded to Baa3 from Baa2 the ratings of the following companies: Rosneft and its subsidiaries Rosneft Finance SA, Rosneft International Finance Limited and Rosneft International Holdings Limited; Gazprom Neft and its subsidiary GPN Capital S.A., the Federal Passenger Company, Lukoil and its subsidiary LUKOIL International Finance, MMC Norilsk Nickel and its subsidiary MMC Finance Ltd., Russian Railways and its subsidiary RZD Capital Plc.
All these ratings have been placed under review for further possible downgrade.
The rating action followed Moody's decision to downgrade Russia's sovereign ratings to Baa3 from Baa2 on January 16, 2015.
Rosneft became Russia's largest publicly traded oil company in March 2013 after the USD55 billion takeover of TNK-BP, which was Russia’s third-largest oil producer at the time.
Lukoil is one of the world's biggest vertically integrated companies for production of crude oil & gas, and their refining into petroleum products and petrochemicals. The company is a leader on Russian and international markets in its core business, which accounts for over 20% of Russian oil production and 18% of the total Russian oil refining. Lukoil also controls two of the largest petrochemical plants in Russia and Ukraine: Stavrolen and Karpatneftekhim.
Gazprom Neft, is the fourth largest oil producer in Russia and ranked third according to refining throughput. It is a subsidiary of Gazprom, which owns about 96% of its shares. The company is registered and headquartered in St. Petersburg after central offices were relocated from Moscow in 2011.
MRC