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Fitch Ratings Inc. is one of the three nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NRSRO) designated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 1975, together with Moody's and Standard & Poor's, and the three are commonly known as the "Big Three credit rating agencies".〔http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/050509/opi_436594375.shtml〕 Fitch Ratings is dual-headquartered in New York, USA, and London, UK.〔http://hugin.info/143461/R/1601708/505879.pdf〕 On April 12, 2012, Hearst increased their stake in the Fitch Group to 50%. Previously, Hearst owned a 40% stake in the company, while FIMALAC was the majority owner with 60% stake.〔http://www.hearst.com/press-room/pr-804-20120209.html〕 Fitch Ratings and Fitch Solutions are part of the Fitch Group. It is a jointly owned subsidiary of Hearst Corporation and FIMALAC SA. On December 12, 2014 Hearst Corporation announced that it will purchase from Fimalac S.A. at $1.965 billion an additional 30 percent interest in Fitch Group, bringing Hearst's equity interest to 80 percent. Fimalac will retain a 20 percent equity interest in Fitch Group. On the same day Fimalac announced that the deal also coprises provision that Fimalac CEO Mr. Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière remain Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fitch Group as well as Fimalac will hold 50% of votes within that Board until 2020. The firm was founded by John Knowles Fitch on December 24, 1913 in New York City as the Fitch Publishing Company. It merged with London-based IBCA Limited in December 1997. In 2000 Fitch acquired both Chicago-based Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co. (April) and Thomson Financial BankWatch (December). Fitch Ratings is the smallest of the "big three" NRSROs, covering a more limited share of the market than S&P and Moody's, though it has grown with acquisitions and frequently positions itself as a "tie-breaker" when the other two agencies have ratings similar, but not equal, in scale. In September 2011, Fitch Group announced the sale of Algorithmics (risk analytics software) to IBM for $387 million.〔http://www.bobsguide.com//guide/news/2011/Sep/1/ibm-to-acquire-algorithmics-ibm-accelerates-business-analytics-into-financial-risk-management.html〕 The deal closed on October 21, 2011.〔http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fimalac-completion-of-the-sale-of-algorithmics-2011-10-21〕 == Long-term credit ratings == Fitch Ratings' long-term credit ratings are assigned on an alphabetic scale from 'AAA' to 'D', first introduced in 1924 and later adopted and licensed by S&P. (Moody's also uses a similar scale, but names the categories differently.) Like S&P, Fitch also uses intermediate +/- modifiers for each category between AA and CCC (e.g., AA+, AA, AA-, A+, A, A-, BBB+, BBB, BBB-, etc.). Investment grade * AAA : the best quality companies, reliable and stable * AA : quality companies, a bit higher risk than AAA * A : economic situation can affect finance * BBB : medium class companies, which are satisfactory at the moment Non-investment grade * BB : more prone to changes in the economy * B : financial situation varies noticeably * CCC : currently vulnerable and dependent on favorable economic conditions to meet its commitments * CC : highly vulnerable, very speculative bonds * C : highly vulnerable, perhaps in bankruptcy or in arrears but still continuing to pay out on obligations * D : has defaulted on obligations and Fitch believes that it will generally default on most or all obligations * NR : not publicly rated 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Fitch Ratings」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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