Unilever investment leads to upgraded credit rating for Kalina
Standard and Poor’s has announced that it has raised its Russia national scale credit rating on cosmetics producer and distributor Concern Kalina to 'ruAA+' from 'ruA+' following the support shown by Unilever.
Last year, Unilever acquired an 82 per cent share in Kalina for RUB17.4bn (€420m) after receiving required approval from the Russian and Ukrainian governments, and made an offer to acquire the remaining share ten days ago.
That offer is yet to be accepted, but was enough for the financial market firm to raise Kalina’s rating, before removing the rating from CreditWatch.
“This assessment reflects Unilever's majority ownership of Kalina, Kalina's importance to Unilever given the latter's focus on emerging markets, and Unilever's significant investment in Kalina, which equals RUB 17.4bn (€420m) compared with Kalina's external debt of about RUB3.5b (€85m),” said an S & P statement.
