Involvement of management

Engaging with a rating agency requires meaningful time and visibility from senior management. The level of involvement varies by stage of the process. Understanding the commitment upfront allows the issuer to plan resource allocation and ensure the right people are available at the right times.

1. Preparation work

The issuer typically appoints an internal key contact — often a senior member of the Treasury or Investor Relations team — to coordinate the gathering of information and the preparation of the rating documentation. This person serves as the primary point of contact throughout the process and manages the internal workflow across teams.

• Input from key managers across finance, strategy, operations, and segment leads is generally required to produce a credible Management Presentation.
• Review sessions are scheduled with finance and IR teams at milestone drafts to ensure accuracy and consistency of the narrative.
• The preparation phase is typically the most time-intensive for internal teams, as it requires assembling three to five years of historical financials, forward projections, and a detailed description of the business.

2. Management presentation

The meeting with each rating agency is the centrepiece of the process. It typically runs two to three hours per agency as a minimum, and agencies may request a follow-up session if they have further questions after reviewing the initial submission.

• Best practice is for the CEO, CFO, and Treasurerto attend the meeting. Additional functional or segment leaders may join depending on the issuer's business profile and the areas the agency has signalled it will probe.
• The line-up should be agreed at the beginning of the project so that participants can plan their diaries and prepare their sections of the presentation.
• The tone of the management meeting matters: agencies form views on management quality and strategic credibility based on the interaction, not only on the written documents.

3. Q&A and rating committee

In the two to three weeks following the management meeting, the agency typically submits follow-up questions to the issuer. These may range from clarifications on specific financial items to requests for additional data on the competitive environment or the liquidity position.

• These activities typically occupy a few hours per week for the internal key contact and a smaller share of the wider team's time.
• The rating committee then meets internally at the agency, deliberates, and issues a final rating. The issuer is notified of the outcome before any public release and is given the opportunity to review the draft rationale for factual accuracy.
• A debrief with the assigned analyst is standard practice and provides insight into the key factors that drove the rating outcome.