Hongqiao published its 2016 annual report and financial statements with an unqualified auditor's opinion. It also refuted allegations of accounting irregularities. We expect Hongqiao to benefit from better trading conditions in China's aluminum industry. We also anticipate that the China-based aluminum producer will deleverage and have sufficient financial resources to meet its large short-term maturities and refinancing needs. We are affirming our 'B' long-term corporate credit rating on Hongqiao. We are also affirming our 'B-' issue rating on the company's senior unsecured notes. We are removing all the ratings from CreditWatch where they were placed with negative implications on March 24, 2017. The stable outlook reflects our expectation that Hongqiao will maintain its large operational scale and cost advantage, lower
