OREANDA-NEWS. The rating is "AAA" on the national scale and "A-" on the international scale, in both cases with a stable outlook.

The rating is based on a wide client base, a solid presence among market leaders, a strongly diversified business, highly-qualified personnel, low operating risks, highly professional management and a favourable assessment of corporate governance, and the absence of a debt burden.

Constraining factors include a business more than usually concentrated by individual (major) client, limited insurance coverage, and the low ratio of the Company's own funds to the market value of the securities held with its depository.

OOO SDK Garant is a private-sector Russian company that provides depository and specialised depository services, also acting as a specialised registrar. Set up in August 2000, it is Russia's number three specialised depository by the value of assets in its purview (R716bn) and ranks fourth among standard depositories by the value of securities on file (R301bn). The Company is a strategic partner of the IFD Kapital group but its ultimate beneficiary owners have not been publicly identified. SDK Garant belongs to both the Professional Association of Registrars, Transfer Agents and Depositories (PARTAD) and the National Association of Non-State Pension Funds (NAPF).

The structure of the balance sheet is consistent with the nature of the Company's operations, with minimal leverage and current operations financed out of its own funds. Most assets take the form of deposits or liquid securities. Liquidity is sufficient. Risk sensitivity is low.