Belarus-based retailer Eurotorg has announced that Russian ratings agency Expert RA(RAEX) has assigned the company’s expected RUB-denominated bond a rating of RuA– on its Russian ratings scale.
This makes Eurotorg the first non-Russian corporate entity to be assigned a credit rating by a Russian credit ratings agency. The outlook on the rating is stable.
RAEX also assigned the company an issuer rating of byA+ on its Belarusian ratings scale with a stable outlook.
'Lead The Way'
"Eurotorg is continuing to lead the way for Belarusian companies in international capital markets, following on from our path-breaking successful Eurobond issuance," commented Andrey Zubkou, CEO of Eurotorg.
"As part of our strategic goal of optimising leverage, we are always looking for opportunities to diversity our funding profile and lengthen the tenor of our debt," he added.
Zubkou added that the company is "delighted" to be the first Belarusian corporate to be rated by RAEX, with a rating at the same level as Russian firms such as M.Video and Sistema.
"Having a strong rating from RAEX opens up opportunities for us to tap a new and attractive source of funding in the Russian market," he added.
Eurotorg reported revenue of BYN 4.5 billion under IFRS (€1.94 billion) last year. As if 31 March 2019, the retailer operated 930 stores across Belarus.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
