UK companies rush for ratings

摘要

Unrated companies have been scrambling to get access to UK government funding by approaching ratings agencies or banks to vouch for their credit quality. Ratings agencies, including Fitch and S&P have been trying to help companies without ratings to get funding from the UK's government's Covid Corporate Financing Facility by providing one-off, short-term ratings or credit assessments. The CCFF, which is run and funded by the Bank of England, was set up to support larger companies through the coronavirus crisis. It will buy commercial paper with a maturity of up to 12 months - but only from businesses which had an investment-grade credit rating or similar before the coronavirus crisis began.