Metalloinvest, a leading global iron ore and hot briquetted iron (HBI) producer based in Russia, has announced that Moody's Investor Service ("Moody's") has confirmed the company's ‘Ba2' corporate rating with a stable outlook.
Following the confirmation of the global rating, Moody's Interfax Rating Agency confirmed the Aa2.ru long-term national scale corporate rating for the company.
Concurrently, Moody's confirmed the ratings on the senior unsecured debt issued by Metalloinvest Finance Limited at ‘Ba2' with a stable outlook.
According to the published statement, confirmations primarily reflect Moody's view that Metalloinvest's competitive cost profile will remain strong on the back of the ruble's devaluation, which took place in 2014. These cost improvements, combined with adequate liquidity and continued deleveraging in 2014 and early 2015, created headroom in the company's ‘Ba2' rating category, which will counterbalance to some extent the negative effect of weakening iron ore prices.