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Ratings agency CARE Ratings has placed the long-term ratings of Russia-linked Indian refiner Nayara on ‘credit watch with negative implications’ on account of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the resultant economic sanctions.
Oil major Rosneft owns a 49.13% stake in Nayara while a similar-sized holding is split between global commodities trading house Trafigura and Cyprus-based Russian investment group United Capital Partners.
Nayara operates the 400,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Vadinar refinery in India's western Gujarat state and has a fleet of about 6,500 retail fuel stations in the country.
CARE Ratings said it will continue to monitor the situation and take a rating action in case of any adverse impact of the war on Nayara’s shareholders and consequent impact of the same on Nayara.
Although the ratings agency notes that at present, the company does not have any major operational dependence on Russia or any of the Russian entities.
"Nonetheless, given the severity of the war situation and the resultant global backlash by way of sanctions on Russia and certain Russian entities, there is a lot of uncertainty over the exact ramifications of the situation on Nayara's shareholders."
Furthermore, CARE Ratings has withdrawn the ratings to the Non-Convertible Debenture (NCD) issue of ₹2,400 crore, as the same has been fully redeemed.
In 2020, Didier Casimiro, the former president of Rosneft Trading SA, had to resign from the board of Nayara after he was placed on a sanctions list by the United States.
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