OREANDA-NEWS. January 28, 2011. Credit-Rating, a nationally recognized credit rating agency in Ukraine announced that it assigned a long-term credit rating of uaA- (uaA minus) bearing stable outlook to registered coupon bonds (series B) to be issued by Kiev-based Interregional Academy of Personnel Management PJSC (‘MAUP’ or ‘issuer’). The amount of the issue is UAH20m. Credit-Rating has also upgraded to uaA- from uaBBBplus the long-term credit ratings assigned to MAUP and its issue of registered coupon bonds (series A) for the amount of UAH10m. The principal activity of MAUP is educational training. In the course of the rating procedure the agency considered issuer’s financial statements for 2005-2009 and 9M2010 and its other inside information.

An obligor or a debt liability with uaA credit rating is characterized with the HIGHLY STRONG creditworthiness as compared to other Ukrainian obligors or debt liabilities. This level of creditworthiness is susceptible to adverse changes in commercial, financial and economic conditions. A plus "plus" and a minus "-" signs indicate intermediary categories compared to the standard categories (grades).

Stable outlook indicates that there are no anticipated reasons to change the rating in the course of the year.

Factors maintaining the credit rating

The issuer is one of Ukraine’s biggest higher schools by number of students (over 24 thousand) and by regional network of branches, representative offices, and subsidiaries.

The majority of issuer’s efficiency performance indicators have improved in the past few years.

Low issuer’s debt burden: as at Sep. 30, 2010 the ratio of net debt to EBITDA calculated for the last 12 months has been reported at 0.3.

Factors constraining the credit rating

Significant dependency of higher schools on state regulatory policy.

Decline in the number of MAUP’s students during the past few years, specifically by 16.8% starting from early 2010.