As of July 27, three major international rating agencies -- Standard & Poor's (S&P), Moody's, and Fitch Group, which successively completed annual assessment of COFCO (Hong Kong) Limited’s creditworthiness, respectively decided to maintain the A-rating and a stable outlook for COFCO (Hong Kong) Limited.
As the wholly-owned subsidiary of COFCO Group, COFCO (Hong Kong) Limited, which serves as the most important overseas investment and financing platform for COFCO to realize internationalization, has stakes in eight listed companies. In late 2014, COFCO (Hong Kong) Limited accounted for 62% of COFCO Group’s total operating revenue, 64% of total assets, and 56% of EBITDA.
The assessment took four months during which three major credit rating agencies obtained comprehensive knowledge of COFCO Group and COFCO (Hong Kong) Limited’s strategy, operation, and finances in 2014 and conducted several rounds of communications.
According to three major credit rating agencies, against the backdrop of depressed world economy and drastic volatility of agricultural commodities market in 2014, COFCO Group and COFCO (Hong Kong) Limited enjoyed steady operation and financial conditions, ensured good creditworthiness in domestic and foreign capital markets, and secured its leading position in China’s agricultural and grains, oils and food market.
Upon takeover of Nidera and Noble Agri, acquisition of China Grain and Logistics Corporation and consolidation of three grain traders into one, COFCO’s percentage of overseas business has increased remarkably, elevating it to the status of four major international grain traders in terms of assets and operating revenue and further expanding and improving its fully integrated value chain. In addition, COFCO has also become one of the first batch of state-owned capital investment companies on a pilot program, demonstrating COFCO Group’s increasing responsibility in serving China’s macro control policies and ensuring China’s grain security strategy.
