Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 5
By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has withdrawn its 'BB-' long-term corporate credit rating on state-owned railway operator Azerbaijan Railways CJSC (ADY) at the issuer's request, said the message of the rating agency Jan.5.
"We had placed the rating on CreditWatch with negative implications on Dec. 11, 2015," said the message. "At the time of the withdrawal, the rating remained on CreditWatch with negative implications; there was no change to the rating prior to today's withdrawal, owing to insufficient information."
This rating reflected the fact that the ADY was three business days late on a payment on one of its commercial loans in November 2015 due to a delay in approval of another loan by the Azerbaijani ministry of finance, aimed at covering its liquidity gap.
S&P expected to resolve the CreditWatch within the next 90 days, during which time the agency expected to gain a clearer view of the government's administrative capacity to provide support to ADY following its expected transfer to the Azerbaijani cabinet of ministers. S&P also had to analyze the company's new strategy, financial policy, and liquidity position.
Last year, the agency had already suspended the monitoring over the rating of the CJSC due to the lack of information on financial and operational indexes of the company, but then restored long-term credit rating at "BB +", outlook "negative."