Your credit rating is not a verdict.
It’s a strategy.
FinServe works alongside corporates to prepare, present and protect their credit position — from initial engagement to board-level advisory.
“We have always believed the rating outcome can be shaped — not just reported.”
FinServe was built on the conviction that corporates should approach the rating process proactively, not reactively. Most management teams engage with agencies after the fact — presenting numbers rather than shaping narratives. We exist on the client’s side of the table: preparing your story before the agency conversation begins, and protecting your position when it matters most.
Our story →Every engagement begins
with your situation.
End-to-end advisory from agency selection to first rating outcome — structured for clarity and speed from day one.
→Annual surveillance preparation — ensuring management is ready with a coherent narrative before the agency conversation begins.
→Retainer-based advisory providing continuous monitoring, stress-testing, and structured board briefing on rating risk and movement.
→Crisis advisory for imminent downgrade risk, watchlist placement, or urgent agency pushback — rapid and decisive intervention.
→Group in the Transition Phase
A large infrastructure group was mid-way through a strategic pivot — moving from capital-heavy EPC contracts to asset-light operations. The transition created a perception gap: agency analysts remained anchored to historical financials that no longer reflected the company’s actual risk profile or future cashflow architecture.
FinServe built a scenario-by-scenario mapping of the business model shift, constructed a forward narrative anchored in operational metrics, and coached senior management ahead of the agency committee presentation. Every potential agency question was anticipated and addressed before the room.
Outcome: Investment grade rating retained through a full business model transition with no negative watch action.
First-Time Rating for an Unrated Corporate
An unrated but operationally strong renewable energy developer sought to access the bond market. Despite solid offtake agreements and significant equity backing, the company’s debt-heavy balance sheet and nascent operating track record were expected to depress the initial rating assignment — limiting its market access window.
FinServe developed a credit narrative centred on contractual cash flow visibility and liquidity adequacy, walking agency analysts through a deal-by-deal operational review with management in advance of the formal rating committee.
Outcome: Mid-level investment grade rating achieved at first assignment — ahead of all internal and market expectations.
Unlocking a Higher IG Rating — Unique Business Model
A specialty finance company with a distinctive business model had been rated at the lower end of investment grade for three consecutive annual cycles. A poorly understood counterparty risk framework and an entrenched low initial rating anchored agency perception despite materially improving fundamentals year on year.
Over a six-month structured engagement, FinServe mapped every element of the counterparty risk mitigation framework, stress-tested the portfolio under multiple scenarios, and rebuilt the management presentation with precision from first principles — reframing the business entirely on the agency’s own analytical terms.
Outcome: Two-notch upgrade to high investment grade — the first rating movement in the company’s five-year rating history.
Multi-Business Group — Rating Protection
A diversified conglomerate operating across seven businesses in three sectors faced systemic downgrade risk as one subsidiary’s financial deterioration threatened to contaminate the group’s consolidated credit position. Rating agencies were preparing to apply group-level stress across otherwise healthy entities.
FinServe developed a business clustering strategy — analytically separating the strong performers from the distressed entity — and prepared independent, structured presentations for each rating agency, framing individual business strengths clearly outside the consolidated view.
Outcome: Ratings on five of seven businesses fully protected; the containment framing was accepted by both agencies without consolidated action.
The rating process works best when you are prepared.
Tell us where you are. We’ll tell you what’s possible.