OREANDA-NEWS. Standard & Poor's Governance Services said today it affirmed its corporate governance score (CGS) on Pipe Metallurgical Co. OJSC ( TMK), the largest Russian metal pipe holding company, at 'CGS-5+' despite the recent change in ownership. At the same time, Standard & Poor's affirmed TMK's score of 'CGS-5.9' on the Russia national scale.

The affirmation follows a recent company event that raises governance concern: a transaction in which the majority shareholder bought out the minority shareholder. This was partially financed by the company debt immediately before TMK's transition to public status.

Mitigating these developments, we have observed growing sophistication of the board process, an increase in the number of independent directors to four from three, and improved financial reporting procedures.