The international rating agency Standard & Poor's has downgraded the rating of JSC "Ukrzaliznytsia" (UZ) from "CCC+" to "CC" due to the proposal to postpone the payment on two issues of eurobonds for a year starting January of this year, with a "negative" outlook.
"We observe a significant weakening of UZ's ability to meet its debt obligations and believe that default on UZ's debt is almost certain according to our methodology. Consequently, we have lowered the long-term credit rating of the UZ issuer," the agency stated on its website on Friday.
It is clarified that the negative outlook reflects the agency's view that UZ is likely to implement its debt restructuring plans in the coming weeks, which S&P considers equivalent to default.