Interpreting Moody’s Provisional and Withdrawn Sovereign Ratings

Summary

The document clarifies two Moody’s rating-history symbols used for sovereign foreign-currency long-term debt. A “(P)” before a rating denotes a provisional rating. Moody’s may assign one when it expects the rating to become final after receiving documentation or after the obligation is issued; provisional ratings may also apply to certain shelf registrations. The prefix signals a rating status rather than a separate rating grade.

“WR” means the rating has been withdrawn. The answer lists possible reasons, including debt maturity or other changes to the obligation, business reasons affecting an issue, and issuer default. These definitions help interpret rating histories, but the brief explanation does not establish why any particular rating was changed or withdrawn. Users should consult the rating agency’s record for the event-specific context behind a symbol in a given sovereign’s history.

Key ideas

• A “(P)” prefix marks a provisional Moody’s rating expected to become final once conditions are met.
• Provisional ratings may be assigned before documents arrive or an obligation is issued.
• “WR” indicates that Moody’s withdrew the rating.
• Withdrawal can follow maturity or changes to an obligation, business reasons, or issuer default.

Tags

# Moody's Sovereign Ratings: Clarification on Definitions and Symbols


# Moody's Sovereign Ratings: Clarification on Definitions and Symbols












I'm working with sovereign ratings at present. With regard to Moody's there are a few things unclear to me in their definitions. Both questions refer to the sovereign rating history in Bloomberg CSDR (`Foreign Currency LT debt`)

- What does a `(P)` prefix indicate? Example (taken from Cyprus): `(P)Caa3`, `(P)B3` and `(P)Ba3`. It is not clear to me what this prefix indicates and I couldn't find any explanation in their methodolgy.

- What does the rating `WR` stand for?

## Answer by pc-iit (score 4, accepted)

https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/10363

(P) prefix : As a service to the market and typically at the request of an issuer, Moody's will assign a provisional rating when it is highly likely that the rating will become final after all documents are received, or an obligation is issued into the market. A provisional rating is denoted by placing a (P) in front of the rating. Such ratings may also be assigned to shelf registrations under SEC rule 415.

WR is the Rating withdrawn for reasons including: debt maturity, calls, puts, conversions, etc., or business reasons (e.g. change in the size of a debt issue), or the issuer defaults

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