Bangkok--27 Aug--Standard & Poor's
The number of speculative-grade-rated entities in the emerging markets increased to 601, or 54% of the total, at the end of second-quarter 2010 after reaching a high of 66.5% in 2001, said an article published today by Standard & Poor's, titled "Emerging Markets Ratings Distribution: The Majority Of Corporate Issuers Remain Rated Speculative Grade." The count of investment-grade-rated entities also increased, to 504 from 490 in 2009.
"At the end of second-quarter 2010, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services had ratings on 1,105 entities in the emerging markets, which is 19.4% of the global pool of issuers," said Diane Vazza, head of Standard & Poor's Global Fixed Income Research. "This is slightly more than the 1,067 issuers at the end of 2009." Four companies defaulted and 34 had ratings withdrawn during the first half of 2010. Together, this is less than the number of newly rated issuers.
"By region, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa comprises 37% of the emerging market pool, Latin America accounts for 36%, and Asia is responsible for 28%," said Ms. Vazza.
Of the 1,105 issuers in the emerging markets, 498 belong to financial sectors and 607 to nonfinancial sectors.
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Analyst Contacts:
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