Municipality Finance Plc
Stock exchange release
19 July 2018 at 14:30 p.m. (EET)
S&P affirmed Municipality Finance’s AA+ credit rating as a part of methodology revision (outlook Stable).
S&P Global Ratings (S&P) affirmed the long-term credit rating for Municipality Finance Plc at AA+ (stable) on 19 July 2018. At the same time the term “under criteria observation”, “UCO” (referring to the criteria revision) was removed from the rating. Both the previous and the updated methodology state that MuniFin’s credit rating cannot be higher than the credit rating of the Republic of Finland (AA+).
S&P decided also to raise the credit rating of MuniFin’s 2015 issued Additional Tier 1 loan by one notch to A-. MuniFin’s short-term funding has the best possible rating A-1+.
S&P decided also in the future to review the Finnish joint municipal funding system, i.e. MuniFin and the Municipal Guarantee Board (the guarantor of MuniFin’s funding), as a “group”.
The above is connected to S&P’s new rating methodology for non-U.S. public-sector funding agencies. In May 2018 S&P decided, in addition to MuniFin, to review nine other issuers in the same category in accordance with the new methodology.
With the new methodology S&P aims to take better into account the characteristics of public-sector funding agencies’ not-for-profit or at least not profit-maximizing mission and assess their stand-alone credit profile and the likelihood and impact of extraordinary support provided by potential supporting governments or public sector entities.
A copy of the S&P Research update can be found from www.munifin.fi.
MUNICIPALITY FINANCE PLC
Esa Kallio, President and CEO
tel. +358 50 337 7953
Measured by the balance sheet, MuniFin (Municipality Finance Plc) is Finland’s second largest credit institution: the company’s balance sheet totals nearly EUR 35 billion. The company is owned by Finnish municipalities, the public sector pension fund Keva and the Republic of Finland.
MuniFin’s mission is to build a better future in line with the principles of responsibility and in cooperation with its customers. MuniFin’s customers are Finnish municipalities, municipal federations, municipally controlled companies and non-profit housing corporations. Lending is used for environmentally and socially responsible investment targets such as public transportation, sustainable buildings, hospitals and healthcare centres, schools and day care centres, and homes for people with special needs.
MuniFin’s customers are domestic but the company operates in a completely global business environment. It is the most active Finnish bond issuer in international capital markets and the first Finnish green bond issuer. The funding is exclusively guaranteed by the Municipal Guarantee Board.
The Municipality Finance Group also includes the subsidiary company, Financial Advisory Services Inspira Ltd.