Moody's Withdraws Ratings of Bulgarian Unit of BNP Paribas Personal Finance for Business Reasons

"This action was taken with the consent of both parties and does not reflect a change in the bank's creditworthiness," Moody's said in a statement.

The global rating agency withdrew the long-term and short-term issuer ratings Ba3/Not Prime with positive outlook and the long-term and short-term senior unsecured debt ratings Ba3/Not Prime also with positive outlook.

BNP Paribas Personal Finance was formed after the merger of Cetelem, the consumer finance subsidiary of French group BNP Paribas, and real estate finance company UCB earlier this year. The Bulgarian unit of BNP Paribas Personal Finance is the former JetFinance International, which Cetelem acquired last year.

BNP Paribas Personal Finance in Bulgaria had consolidated total assets of 277.3 million levs ($182.9 million/141.7 million euro) at the end of September 2008.