Moody's Corp. acquired a minority stake in Malaysian Rating Corp., a Kuala Lumpur-based credit rating agency covering the Malaysian markets for bonds and sukuk Islamic financial certificates, a joint announcement said Wednesday.
The minority stake in the ratings agency, known as MARC, comes to slightly less than 20%, a MARC spokeswoman said. Details about the cost of the stake were not disclosed.
Simon Chen, vice president-strategy and business management at Moody's Investors Service, said the purchase price is not expected to have a material effect on Moody's 2020 financial results.
The acquisition "is in line with Moody's strategy to expand our domestic presence to Malaysia and across ASEAN, with a focus on supporting the long-term and sustainable development of the region's capital and Islamic finance markets," Mr. Chen said in an email.
The MARC spokeswoman said MARC is looking forward to "input" from Moody's on new business segments that the Malaysian ratings agency is pursuing, including data analytic offerings and ESG assessments, among other areas.
A sukuk offers holders ownership in an underlying asset and a share in the profits derived from that asset as opposed to interest payments, which are contrary to Islamic precepts.
Moody's Corp. is the parent firm of U.S. ratings agency Moody's Investors Service.
