IR Releases

On 31 January 2013, Moody’s approved ratings of Lenenergo - Corporate Family Rating at Ba2 stable and NSR Corporate Family Rating at Aa2.ru stable

From the Rating Rationale it follows that Lenenergo's Ba2/Aa2.ru ratings incorporate:

• the higher risk of the company's regulated grid business in Russia compared with the generally low business risk profiles of its peers in developed markets;
• the company's financial profile and liquidity, which are pressured by its large investment program;
• some degree of shareholder/state support available to the company given its advantageous shareholder structure and its strategic role in the economy of the St. Petersburg region, one of the wealthiest regions in Russia. The company's higher business risk is attributed to the evolving regulation of the Russian grid sector and the sector's restructuring, with IDGC Holding to be renamed Russian Grids and become the management company for the sector. Moody's incorporates a one-notch uplift in Lenenergo's ratings for the support from its shareholders.

The rating outlook is stable, as Moody’s believes that Lenenergo has sound and prudent plans to develop and adjust its business in close interaction with its shareholders taking into account the availability of funding, tariff evolution and the wider economic environment.*

Approved:

• March 2011
• February 2012
• January 2013

* Free translation of some fragments of the credit opinion is used herein
Full text of the credit opinion is available on the website of Lenenergo at http://www.lenenergo.ru/shareholders/investors/ratings/