ACRA ASSIGNS AAA(RU) TO THE SERIES 003P-03 BOND ISSUE OF X5 FINANCE LLC

Credit rating rationale. X5 Corporate Center LLC (hereinafter, the Company) acts as the guarantor for the series 003P-03 bond of X5 Finance LLC, and due to this the Agency views this issue as senior unsecured debt of the Company. Due to the absence of contractual subordination of the issue, ACRA regards it as equal to other existing and future unsecured and unsubordinated debt obligations of the Company in terms of priority. According to ACRA’s estimates, the recovery rate for unsecured debt belongs to category I, and therefore, the credit rating of the issue is AAA(RU), i.e. on par with the credit rating of the Company.

X5 Corporate Center LLC is the Russian holding entity of X5 Retail Group N.V. (ACRA rating AAA(RU), outlook Stable). The Company’s consolidation perimeter coincides with the consolidation perimeter of X5 Retail Group N.V., and therefore, all the rating assessment factors of the Company are identical to those of X5 Retail Group N.V. The credit rating of the Company is based on its very strong operational risk profile and liquidity, leading position in the Russian food retail market, low leverage, and high profitability.

KEY ISSUE PROPERTIES

Sources: ACRA, issuer’s data

REGULATORY DISCLOSURE

The credit rating has been assigned under the national scale for the Russian Federation based on the Methodology for Assigning Credit Ratings to Financial Instruments under the National Scale for the Russian Federation and the Key Concepts Used by the Analytical Credit Rating Agency within the Scope of Its Rating Activities.

A credit rating has been assigned to the series 003P-03 bond issue of X5 Finance LLC for the first time. The credit rating is expected to be revised within one year following the publication date of this press release.

The credit rating was assigned based on data provided by X5 Retail Group N.V. and X5 Corporate Center LLC, information from publicly available sources, and ACRA’s own databases. The credit rating is solicited and X5 Retail Group N.V. and X5 Corporate Center LLC participated in participated in its assignment.

In assigning the credit rating, ACRA used only information, the quality and reliability of which were, in ACRA’s opinion, appropriate and sufficient to apply the methodologies.

ACRA provided no additional services to X5 Retail Group N.V. ACRA provided additional services to X5 Corporate Center LLC. No conflicts of interest were discovered in the course of credit rating assignment.