Amsterdam, Netherlands, April 18, 2013 - Nord Gold N.V. (“Nordgold” or the “Company”, LSE: NORD), an international gold producer with nine operating mines in Russia, Kazakhstan, Burkina Faso and Guinea, announces that Fitch ratings (“Fitch”) has assigned a BB- foreign currency long-term issuer default rating (IDR) to the Company. The outlook on the rating is stable.
This is the first time that Fitch has assigned a rating to Nordgold.
The rating reflects the strong operational, financial and corporate governance profiles of Nordgold. Fitch’s analysis is based on Nordgold’s mine life, reserves quality, and well-diversified portfolio of assets with the newly operational Bissa mine expected to further enhance the company’s operational diversification. In addition, the rating takes into consideration Nordgold’s organic growth strategy, its strong liquidity position and good representation of independent directors on the Board.
“The assignment of an initial credit rating by Fitch marks an important milestone for Nordgold. "We are pleased that Fitch has appreciated both our past achievements in growing our business and the strong growth potential of our assets, as well as the quality of corporate governance in our company. A credit rating assignment widens the choice of instruments available for us in the global capital markets, an important step forward in this current period of high market volatility.” Nikolai ZelenskiChief Executive Officer of Nordgold
