Moody's withdraws credit ratings of Astana Finance (Kazakhstan)

Moscow, March 09, 2011 -- Moody's Investors Service today announced that it has withdrawn all ratings of Astana Finance as the company has been undergoing debt restructuring process since its default in May 2009. At the time of withdrawal, Astana Finance's ratings were as follows: long-term local and foreign currency issuer ratings of C, foreign currency senior unsecured debt rating of C, and provisional foreign currency rating of (P)C assigned to the USD2 billion Medium-Term Note (MTN) Programme of Astana Finance and the USD1.5 billion MTN Programme of Astana Finance B.V. (Astana Finance's wholly-owned subsidiary), each with a stable outlook. Please refer to Moody's Withdrawal Policy on www.moodys.com. RATINGS RATIONALE Moody's rated Astana Finance's Eurobonds in the amount of USD175 million and as of the date of this Press Release Astana Finance remains in default on these obligations. Moody's also rated the two global MTN programmes. Nonetheless, no rated drawdowns under these programmes remained outstanding. Moody's notes that it will no longer maintain rating coverage or publish research on these Eurobonds, MTNs and on issuer rating of Astana Finance. Moody's most recent rating action on Astana Finance was taken on 12 November 2009 when the rating agency downgraded the company's long-term issuer and debt ratings to C from Ca.

• Full name
  Joint Stock Company "Astana-finance"
• Registration country
  Kazakhstan
• Industry
  Financial institutions