OREANDA-NEWS. National Rating Agency has lowered its national scale credit rating on Fargo Finance Ltd's Series 01 bond issue (Reg. No. 4-01-36433-R, ISIN code: RU000A0JUFK1) to 'D' and has withdrawn its Negative rating outlook. Fargo Finance Ltd's series 01 bond issue was first assigned NRA's credit rating on Mar. 5, 2014. The latest rating update (downgrade to 'C+' with a negative outlook) was on Feb. 12, 2016.

The rating downgrade was driven by NRA's decision to stop factoring in the external support from one of the issuer's strategic partners, which used to be viewed as one of the key rating strengths mitigating potential credit risks involved in the bond issue.

The rating downgrade to 'D' reflects the issuer's default, namely, failure to pay the RUB 269.28 million coupon payment on the Series 01 bonds for the fourth coupon period. Earlier, on Feb. 10, 2016, Fargo Finance Ltd's entered a technical default on its Series 01 bond coupon payment.