KYIV. April 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded Ukraine’s largest steel and iron ore producer Metinvest B.V.’s corporate family rating (CFR) to Caa2 from Caa3 and its probability of default rating (PDR) to Caa2-PD/LD from D-PD, reads a report on the rating agency’s’ website.
“Moody’s has also upgraded Metinvest’s national scale rating (NSR) to B1.ua from Caa3.ua. The outlook on the ratings is stable,” it reads.
Concurrently, Moody’s has withdrawn the Caa3 senior unsecured ratings assigned to Metinvest’s 10.25% notes due 2016 and 8.75% notes due 2018, and the (P)Caa3 senior unsecured rating assigned to Metinvest’s MTN program,” Moody’s experts stated.
“The upgrade of Metinvest’s CFR and PDR follows the completion of its debt restructuring, as announced on March 22, 2017, as a result of which the company is no longer in default on its debt obligations. Concurrently, Moody’s has appended the PDR with the limited default (/LD) designation, which reflects Moody’s view that the completed debt restructuring constitutes a distressed exchange under Moody’s definition of default,” they said.
“The completed debt restructuring includes the replacement of Metinvest’s three eurobond issues with a total outstanding amount of $1.197 million due in 2016-2018, which were in default, with a single eurobond issue of the same aggregated principal, due in 2021, and the replacement of Metinvest’s four pre-export facilities (PXF) of total outstanding $1.109 million due in 2015-2018, which were in default, with a single PXF of the same aggregated principal, due in 2021,” according to the document.
“Metinvest’s Caa2 CFR is constrained by Ukraine’s Caa2 country ceiling for foreign-currency debt. Despite Metinvest’s high volume of exports, the company remains directly exposed to Ukraine’s political, legal, fiscal, regulatory and operating environment, given that most of the company’s upstream and steel-making production facilities are located within Ukraine, although it generates only 25% of revenues from domestic sales,” it states.
“Metinvest’s rating also takes into account the loss of control over the company’s assets in the unstable regions in the east of Ukraine, which will reduce the company’s scale of operations, primarily in the steel segment; Moody’s view that Ukraine’s steel market has limited growth potential because of the continuing macroeconomic challenges and elevated event risks; and volatile prices for steel and feedstock,” the agency said.
“More positively, Metinvest’s rating reflects the modest contribution of assets located in the unstable regions in the east of Ukraine to Metinvest’s consolidated EBITDA (estimated by the company at less than 3% for 2017); the company’s integrated business model, with more than 300% self-sufficiency in iron ore, around 100% in coke and 40% in coking coal; proximity to main export markets and geographic diversification of assets and sales, as around 30% of Metinvest’s operating assets are located outside of Ukraine and the company derives around 75% of revenues from sales in international markets; the company’s healthy liquidity and long-term debt maturity profile following its completed debt restructuring; Moody’s estimation that the company’s leverage declined below 3.5x Moody’s-adjusted debt/EBITDA at year-end 2016 from 8.9x a year earlier, owing to EBITDA growth as a result of the increase in finished steel products output, recovery in steel and iron ore prices, rise in coking coal prices, hryvnia depreciation and cost reduction; moderate foreign-currency risk, as all of the company’s debt and 75% of its revenues is denominated in foreign currency; and the rating agency’s expectation that the company will pursue a conservative financial policy, generate a positive free cash flow and maintain robust financial metrics on a sustainable basis, assuming no major event-driven operational disruptions,” Moody’s added.
KYIV. April 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Over three million of Ukrainian citizens have already received biometric passports for traveling abroad, the head of the State Migration Service of Ukraine Maksym Sokoliuk has said.
“As of 9:00 a.m., today already 3.025 million citizens have received biometric documents for traveling abroad,” Sokoliuk said during an hour of questions to the government in the Verkhovna Rada on Friday.
As reported, at a meeting of the European Parliament on April 6, 521 European deputies voted “for” granting a visa-free regime for Ukrainians by the EU, 75 were “against” and 36 abstained.
LVIV. April 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – By late April French experts from Egis would select an optimal site for building a waste recycling plant in Lviv, Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy has said.
“By late April French experts would finish analyzing all possible land parcels for building the waste recycling plant and select the concrete and most optimal place for its construction,” he said on April 7.
He said that Egis experts jointly with Ukrainian experts are finalizing work on technical specification of the plant.
“After the site is selected designing of blueprints with reference to the land parcel will start and the final step will be drafting of documents for announcing an international tender to build a first deep waste recycling plant in Ukraine,” he said.
Egis experts would present an emergency work plan for Hrybovychi landfill in two weeks.
As reported, the Lviv City Council and France’s Egis signed a memorandum, according to which the company will design a project on reclamation of the Hrybovychi landfill for Lviv and the project on the new waste recycling complex. A grant of the French government of EUR 650,000 will be used to finance the works.
KYIV. April 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine as of April 7 sowed first 4,000 ha in seven regions with soybeans with the target of 1.9 million ha, Ukraine’s Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry has reported.
According to a posting on the ministry’s website, sowing of sugar beets continues: 158,000 ha or 54% of the target was sowed, and sunflower seeds were sowed on 348,000 ha or 6% of the target.
Spring crops had been sowed on 2 million ha or 83% of the target. Some 134,000 ha or 70% of the target was sowed with spring wheat, 1.4 million ha or 79% of the target with spring barley, 163,000 ha or 78% of the target with oats and 339,000 ha or 123% of the target with peas.
The ministry said that application of fertilizers to winter crops will be finished soon: fertilizers were applied to 7.06 ha or 99% of the target.
As reported, referring to the ministry, spring crops will be sowed on 7.2 million ha in 2017, including 2.4 ha with early crops.
KYIV. April 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers has approved a project to build a radioactive waste (RAW) disposal complex at Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant (NPP) with the total cost of UAH 1.164 billion.
The decision is outlined in government resolution No. 240-r dated April 5, 2017 published on the government’s portal.
The cost of construction works is estimated at UAH 68.865 million, equipment – UAH 888.821 million and other expenses – UAH 206.685 million.
It will take 20 months to build the complex, including 17 months for the first phase and three months for the second phase.
Energoatom is the operator of all four Ukrainian-based operating nuclear power plants, which have 15 VVER reactors with an overall generating capacity of 13.835 gigawatts.
KYIV. April 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrenergo plans to complete the construction of the 330 kV Novo-Odeska-Artsyz power grids by 2020.
According to the press service of the state enterprise, it started the work on the project in the middle of the 2000s, but construction was suspended.
“Our calculations related to the work of the Moldovan state regional power station and the energy center, as well as geopolitical changes show that it is necessary to accelerate the pace and, if possible, complete the construction of the Novo-Odeska-Artsyz power grids by 2020,” Ukrenergo Head Vsevolod Kovalchuk said.
According to him, to implement the project it is planned to attract investments from international financial organizations, in particular, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
As reported, Ukrenergo in 2007 estimated the cost of building the Novo-Odeska-Artsyz power grids with a cable passage through the Dnistrovsky firth at UAH 450 million.
