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RENOVA HOLDING: Moody's Assigns Ba3 Corporate Family Rating
Moody's Investors Service assigned Ba2 corporate family rating to Renova Holding Ltd. The outlook is stable.
Renova is the Bahamas-based holding company of a relatively large unquoted investment holding owned by Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian entrepreneur. The principal assets of Renova comprise a 12.5% indirect stake in TNK-BP (Russian integrated oil and gas company, rated Baa2/Stable), and a 7.8% indirect stake in UC RUSAL, one of the largest aluminum producers in the world with principal operations in Russia, as well as investments in a broad range of Russian energy generation and distribution companies, telecoms and media, construction and development, several European manufacturing companies and several other industries in Russia.
The assigned Ba2 rating recognizes credit risk at Renova as a function of the cash flow directly available to the holding from the dividend stream and divestments, as well as the holding's limited direct liabilities. Renova operates as a medium-term investor company and the analysis reflects the way the holding manages its assets, as well as the expectation that its portfolio companies will continue to be financed on a stand- alone basis with no recourse to the holding company. Renova's cash flow is substantially supported by the dividend stream from its core holdings in TNK-BP and UC RUSAL that also represented approximately 2/3 of the fair market value of its investment portfolio at the end of 2006. Looking forward, investments in the power generation, trading and distributions assets in Russia and abroad are expected to increasingly support the credit profile of the holding as well. The Ba2 rating reflects the expectation that Renova will maintain its investments in TNK-BP and UC RUSAL in the medium term.
On the conservative side, the assigned Ba2 corporate family rating takes into account a limited degree of diversification of the holding (measured in relation to concentration of value and cash flow generating capacity among a few core group companies at this stage, as well as the holding's current focus on Russia and commodities) and a limited public disclosure offered by the holding to date.
In Moody's opinion, these risks are counterbalanced by a high degree of financial flexibility afforded to the holding by the strong dividend flow from its key investments and substantial asset coverage of the holding's liabilities with marketable investments. The Ba2 rating assumes that the holding will maintain its conservative financial profile with a medium term cash coverage of interest payments above 3x and leverage of Net Debt/Market Value of the portfolio assets of below 25%.
The stable outlook reflects Moody's view that a strong momentum in the holding's key industries is likely to continue in the medium term and support liquidity and dividend cash inflow at the holding level. The stable outlook rests on the expectation that Renova will maintain its conservative financial profile.
Renova Holding Ltd is a Bahamas-based investment holding company with principal investments in TNK-BP, UC RUSAL, a number of Russian power generation and distribution companies, as well as chemical, machinery, telecoms and media and real estate companies in Russia and Europe. At the end of 2006, the fair value of its portfolio was estimated at US$12 billion, with the core investments concentrated in Russia.
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