OREANDA-NEWS. On 09 April 2009 Credit-Rating, a nationally recognized credit rating agency in Ukraine has today announced that it downgraded to uaBB from uaBBB+ (uaBBB plus) the long-term credit rating assigned to Kiev-based Karavan LLC (`issuer` or `company`) and its  registered coupon bonds of series A for UAH30m due May 6, 2009 and series C for UAH130m due June 27, 2011. The outlook on the ratings is negative. The ratings remain on Rating Watch List (`RWL`).

These rating actions have been prompted by the company`s deteriorated liquidity under adverse conditions in the financial market and opacity regarding possibility for refinancing the company`s obligations, which has already made the issuer fail to timely pay the coupon on series A bonds, and to pay coupon on series C bonds.

An obligor or a debt liability with uaBB credit rating is characterized with the LOWER THAN SUFFICIENT creditworthiness as compared to other Ukrainian obligors or debt liabilities. This level of creditworthiness is strongly affected by adverse changes in commercial, financial and economic conditions.

Negative outlook indicates that there is a possibility to downgrade the rating in the course of the year, on condition that negative tendencies are retained and current risks are realized.

The Rating Watch List intends for informing financial market participants about possible changes of ratings in short-term prospective. The rating placed on RWL denotes that Credit-Rating is currently considering its change as a result of events or ongoing trends, which may negatively affect creditworthiness of a rating`s bearer.