OREANDA-NEWS. Moody's Investors Service has placed under review for downgrade the A3 issuer rating of COFCO (Hong Kong) Limited, and the A3 rating of the senior unsecured bonds issued by Prosperous Ray Limited and guaranteed by COFCO HK.

Moody's action follows COFCO Corporation's (unrated) announcement that it plans to acquire the remaining share of Nidera Capital B.V. (Nidera, unrated), a Netherlands-based agribusiness and trading company, that it does not already own.

COFCO HK is a core subsidiary wholly owned by COFCO Corporation, which is in turn 100% owned by the Government of China (Aa3 negative). COFCO HK and other investors, as a consortium, acquired a 51% stake in Nidera in 2014.