ACRA ASSIGNS eAA-(RU) TO THE RU000A10EKA9 COLLATERALIZED BOND ISSUE OF “INVESTMENT BONDS” LLC

Expected credit rating rationale. The level of credit risk of the rated bond issue of “Investment Bonds” LLC (hereinafter, the Issuer) is determined by its collateral in the form of federal bonds (hereinafter, OFZs) with a regular coupon yield, which, in ACRA’s opinion, have the highest credit quality. The expected credit rating of the collateralized bonds was determined by adjusting the preliminary rating assessment in accordance with the criteria and analytical judgments of the Methodology for Assigning Credit Ratings to Repackaging Transactions, in connection with which the Agency assigned an eAA-(RU) expected credit rating to the issue of collateralized bonds.

KEY ISSUE PROPERTIES

Sources: ACRA, issuer’s data

¹ Preliminary placement date

The rated bonds are an issue of bonds with structured income and collateral in the form of OFZs in the amount of RUB 100 mln. The bonds pay a guaranteed coupon at a fixed rate of 0.01% per annum once a year (if the duration of the issue is less than a year, then at maturity), as well as additional income at [10.14%] — its size is determined by the price characteristics of an additional underlying asset, which may be a derivative financial instrument or shares purchased by the Issuer using its own funds. The par value of the rated bonds is fully secured by the par value of the purchased OFZs.

According to the Methodology for Assigning Credit Ratings to Repackaging Transactions, public debt instruments have the highest credit quality under the National Rating Scale for the Russian Federation. The collateral for the rated bonds is represented by securities of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation (26226RMFS), which requires the use of the simplified approach that involves assigning an expected credit rating to the repackaging instrument based on the credit quality of the collateral without making additional calculations. The fulfillment of obligations to pay the par value and make mandatory coupon payments for the rated bonds is carried out at the expense of cash flow generated by the issue of OFZs, which serves as collateral for the rated bonds.

The Issuer of the rated bond issue is an independent special purpose entity established to carry out repackaging, i.e., to issue financial instruments backed by claims on debt obligations or debt financial instruments.

The conditions of the issue do not provide for the assignment of rights of claim from any original creditors (originators) to the Issuer. Accordingly, the analyzed bond issue is not a securitization of credit claims, which compensates for the risks associated with the formal lack of protection of the Issuer from bankruptcy, including the risk of invalidation of the assignment of the underlying asset. Nevertheless, in the absence of an opinion from an independent legal consultant, ACRA admits the existence of potential legal risks associated with the lack of protection of the Issuer from bankruptcy, which may have a limited impact on the credit quality of the rated bond issue, and therefore an analytical adjustment (minus two notches) was applied to the base rating assessment. In addition, the Agency applied an additional analytical adjustment to the rating assessment by one notch downward to account for the presence of counterparty risk for the derivative instruments. As part of the transaction structure, the Issuer is creating a reserve fund in the settlement account, fully deducted from its profit for 2025, to mitigate the risk of non-payment of additional income to investors. This fund ensures coverage of obligations to pay additional income should the need arise.

The Issuer holds bank accounts with “BCS Bank” AO (main account bank), as well as securities accounts with BrokerCreditService Ltd and Bank GPB (JSC) (reserve account bank; ACRA rating: AA+(RU), outlook Stable). In the event of deterioration in the financial standing or in other cases that could negatively affect the ability of “BCS Bank” AO or BrokerCreditService Ltd to service the Issuer’s accounts, securities that serve as collateral for the rated issue, as well as all transactions using the accounts necessary to service the obligations under rated bond issue, will be promptly transferred to Bank GPB (JSC). The presence of a mechanism for replacing the bank that holds the Issuer’s accounts offsets the counterparty risks associated with the creditworthiness of the main account bank.

Derivative financial instruments, the characteristics of which may affect the fulfillment of obligations under the rated bond issue, are not provided for by the conditions of the issue. The purchase of an underlying asset to pay additional income does not affect the credit quality of the rated bonds.

The conditions of the issue provide for the presence of a representative of the bondholders — “LEGAL CAPITAL INVESTOR SERVICES” LLC, which acts in the interests of the bondholders and, among other things, exercises all the powers of the pledgee in relation to the collateral.

REGULATORY DISCLOSURE

The expected credit rating has been assigned to the issue of “Investment Bonds” LLC based on the following methodologies: the Methodology for Assigning Credit Ratings to Repackaging Transactions to determine the expected credit rating of the bond issue 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 to ensure consistent and uniform application of ACRA’s methodologies, rating scales, models, and key rating assumptions.

An expected credit rating of the issue (ISIN RU000A10EKA9) of “Investment Bonds” LLC assigned under the national scale for the Russian Federation has been published for the first time.

The next rating action is expected within one year following the publication date of this press release.

ACRA will assign a credit rating to the issue (ISIN RU000A10EKA9) after the final documentation is provided. In case of any significant discrepancies between the final documentation and the preliminary materials, ACRA may change the issue’s credit rating against the expected credit rating.

The expected credit rating was assigned based on data provided by BrokerCreditService Ltd, “Investment Bonds” LLC, information from publicly available sources, and ACRA’s own databases.

The expected credit rating is solicited and BrokerCreditService Ltd and “Investment Bonds” LLC participated in its assignment.

In assigning the expected 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 “Investment Bonds” LLC during the year preceding the rating action.

No conflicts of interest were discovered in the course of the expected credit rating assignment.