OREANDA-NEWS. Standard & Poor's International rating agency upgraded Veles Capital's credit rating to "BB-/B/ruAA-" with negative forecast.

The raising of the rating followed the change in S&P criteria and took into account Veles Capital's consistently very strong capitalization. The company is achieving a consistent return on capital of 10%-15% over the past few years.

"We view Veles' capital and earnings as very strong. We view capital as a crucial rating strength, especially in the current volatile environment, and a key differentiating rating factor relative to some Russian peers" - said S&P experts.

Veles Capital risk position appreciated as adequate: "We note that the entity has a conservative risk appetite, seeking to expand in new areas of business (such as equity brokerage) instead of relaxing risk limits and decreasing the quality of exposures. We consider that Veles tightly manages the flow portfolio of bonds and promissory notes, both from a credit and liquidity perspective".

The negative forecast reflects Standard & Poor's view that Veles Capital earnings capacity and business position may be vulnerable to the challenging macroeconomic conditions in Russia, notably volatile capital markets.

Veles Capital IC is one of the oldest Russian investment companies rendering financial services for corporate and private clients on stock market as well as in the sphere of private equity and real estate investment. Veles Capital is one of the only few Russian investment companies rated by international rating agency S&P (for the first time S&P rating has been assigned in 2006). The company has also highest reliability rating ААA by National Rating Agency (upgraded in March 2014).

Standard & Poor's as a part of The McGraw-Hill Companies is the acknowledged leader in credit rating analysis. S&P operates in 23 countries holding leading market positions and giving investors the independent indicators for decision making proses.