OREANDA-NEWS. October 19, 2010. JSC RusHydro (ticker symbols: RTS, MICEX, LSE: HYDR; OTCQX: RSHYY) announces that Fitch Ratings has assigned RusHydro Finance Limited's prospective rouble-denominated Eurobond issue an expected local currency senior unsecured rating of 'BB+'. RusHydro Finance Limited is a finance vehicle for JSC RusHydro, the Russian hydro electricity generation company. The agency has also assigned RusHydro a Long-term local currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of 'BB+' with a Positive Outlook. RusHydro's Long-term foreign currency IDR is 'BB+' with a Positive Outlook and its National Long-term rating is 'AA (rus)' with a Positive Outlook.

The final rating of the Eurobond issue is contingent upon the receipt of final documentation conforming materially to information already received by Fitch. Proceeds from the bonds are expected to be used by RusHydro for capital expenditure and general corporate purposes.

Fitch revised the Outlook for RusHydro to Positive from Stable following Fitch's revision of the Russian Federation's ratings Outlook to Positive from Stable. RusHydro had negative net leverage (net adjusted debt/EBITDAR) at year-end 2009. Fitch's five-year forecast is for the company to maintain very low net leverage (less than 1x) and funds from operations interest coverage above 8x. RusHydro's ratings are notched down by two levels from the sovereign's due to its state ownership, the strategic importance of the company to the state, and its reliance on investment funding from the state.