WEDNESDAY, 05/02/2025 - Scope Ratings GmbH

GS Inima is new Spanish issuer to mandate Scope Ratings

Scope’s roster of mandated corporate ratings across different sectors and countries continues to grow with the addition of Spanish water concessions company GS Inima to its coverage.

The rating mandate from GS Inima, a global leader in the water sector, follows the recent acceptance and implementation of Scope’s credit ratings by the ECB for the central bank’s monetary policy operations, confirming Scope’s position as the leading European rating agency.

Carlos Valencia Castellano, Chief Financial Officer at GS Inima, said: “We selected Scope to ensure investors benefit from a European perspective on our company's credit quality. We are impressed with the rigour and efficiency with which Scope undertook this initial issuer rating. Achieving investment grade status is evidence of GS Inima’s success over the years in increasing our profitability, improving our balance sheet and strengthening our equity position.”

Carlos Romera Cano, Business Development Spain at Scope Group, said: “We are delighted that Spain´s GS Inima has joined the wide range of companies across Europe which have chosen Scope Ratings to provide an independent view on their credit risk. The rating confirms the value that issuers and investors see in our growing coverage of large European companies using a distinctive analytical approach compared with that of the US-based rating agencies.”

Scope rates GS Inima at BBB-/Stable. “GS Inima's business risk profile benefits from its activities in the low-risk water concession business – a market with high barriers to entry – which provides the company with strong cash generation power and high profitability. The company focuses on long-term water concession contracts, mostly signed with municipalities or government agencies and, to a lesser extent, with industrial customers,” said Michel Bove, lead analyst at Scope Ratings.

On GS Inima: Positioned as one of the companies with the largest number of plants under concession, GS Inima is a global leader in the water sector, with annual revenues of more than EUR 350m and more than 2,000 staff. The company operates in all the phases of the projects in which it participates: financing, engineering, supply, construction, operation and maintenance. More Info.

On Scope’s corporate rating coverage: Scope currently rates around 290 European companies and around 3,500 corporate bonds. According to the recent ESMA market share report (page 10) Scope’s rating coverage among European companies is the third largest of all rating agencies. Scope’s total rating coverage includes solicited and unsolicited ratings.

On Scope’s corporate rating methodology: With ratings and research rooted in a European perspective on corporate performance which pays close attention to regional differences, we provide a diversity of credit opinion that enhances the ability of issuers and investors to manage risk and improve return. Scope’s modular, flexible and opinion-driven methodologies strike an appropriate balance between analytical consistency and issuer-specific characteristics, notably regarding corporate structures, pensions, cash management, ownership and owners’ business philosophy. See all of Scope’s corporate rating methodologies here.

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