OREANDA-NEWS. RusRating has assigned a credit rating to ZAO Delta-Holding (Moscow). The rating is “BBB” on the national scale and “BB” on the international scale, in both cases with a stable outlook.

The rating is based on the ASPEK group's several years of successful operations, a business diversified by industry and the potential support of the Company's owners.

Constraining factors include a high debt burden (on the basis of official accounts) and limited transparency with respect to the group's actual operating cash flows.

The closed joint-stock company ZAO Delta-Holding is the hub of the ASPEK group, which has been in business since 1992, selling cars, building residential and non-residential real estate, and operating in the forestry sector. The ASPEK-Auto business unit accounts for more than a quarter of all sales of imported vehicles in the Republic of Udmurtia via its “ASPEK Auto Village” in Izhevsk, which hosts Toyota, Ford, KIA, Nissan, Honda and Skoda dealers, as well as a common trade-in facility. ASPEK-Domstroi [trs. ASPEK-Home Construction] is a leading builder of residential facilities in Izhevsk and also operates the Talisman retail and entertainment complex. The group also owns the Solomenski wood processing plant in Petrozavodsk (Karelia). Its principal beneficiary owners are V.G. Khoroschavtsev (a rouble billionaire, member of the Bashkortostan duma and one-time senator for Udmurtia) and M.Y. Pitkevich, the General Director of Bashneft [trs. Bashkortostan Oil] and the son of Udmurtia Prime Minister Yuri Pitkevich.

As the holding company for the group ZAO Delta-Holding's assets consist entirely of stakes in subsidiary companies and its financial condition is dependent on the financial condition of those firms. On the basis of official accounts the ASPEK group's debt burden appears high, although the de facto burden is moderate. Its primary assets are car dealerships, a wood processing plant, a retail and entertainment complex, and capital investments in construction projects. Overall risk sensitivity is elevated. Liquidity is sufficient.