Fitch Thailand: Corporate National Ratings Stable in 2013

Fitch Thailand's corporate finance national rating activity was net positive in 2013. Against the backdrop of well-capitalized banks and corporates with moderate leverage and resilient earnings, there were four upgrades and no downgrades reported in 2013.

No defaults occurred among the Fitch Thailand national corporate finance rated entities through 2013. The absence of national ratings defaults in Thailand is due in part to the limited issuance of lower rated bonds and the limited size of Thailand's bond market.

The study includes all publicly rated Thailand nationally rated long-term corporate finance issuers and also provides transition rates for nationally rated structured finance transactions.

The Thailand National Rating scale provides a relative measure of creditworthiness for rated entities within Thailand. Under this rating scale, an 'AAA(tha)' long-term National Rating will be assigned to the lowest relative risk within the country, which, as in most but not all cases, will be that of the sovereign state.

The National Rating scale merely ranks the degree of perceived risk relative to the lowest default risk in that same country. National Ratings exclude the effects of sovereign and transfer risk and exclude the possibility that investors outside the country may be unable to repatriate any due interest and principal repayments. It is not related to the rating scale of any other national market. Comparisons between different national scales or between an individual national scale and the international rating scale are therefore inappropriate. Consequently, they are identified by the addition of a special identifier for the country concerned, such as 'AAA(tha)' for National Ratings in Thailand.

The special report, 'Fitch Thailand National Ratings 2013 Transition Study' is available under Credit Market Research on Fitch's International website or by clicking on the above link. This report should be read in conjunction with Fitch's National Scale Ratings Criteria, dated October 2013.

Additional information is available at www.fitchratings.com.

Applicable Criteria and Related Research: Fitch Thailand National Ratings 2013 Transition Study

http://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=808108

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