OREANDA-NEWS. On 01 July 2009 was announced, that Fitch Ratings maintained TMM company's Long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default ratings of 'CC' and National Long-term rating of 'B(ukr)' on Rating Watch Negative (RWN). According to the rating agency the RWN is expected to be resolved by end-September 2009.

Larisa Chyvurina, CFO of TMM Company: "Maintaining of the current ratings at the same level is viewed by us as a positive fact.  The major part of concerns expressed by Fitch is attributed to the current environment in Ukraine and the construction industry – these are the factors we have no control over.  Despite the fact that the situation in the country has negative influence on the ratings, we are not planning to suspend this procedure. Over the last six months we took a number of actions in order to optimize the company's operations, support its liquidity and restructure the short-term debt. In particular, TMM has repaid over 90% of its short-term credits with the maturities scheduled for August-November 2009. Moreover, TMM obtained a new credit line to finance the current projects and fully redeem its D-series bond issue maturing in 2009. The fact of obtaining this credit gives evidence that today TMM is not only able to access local financing but also meets the strict requirements set by banks."