The Moscow Times
Businessman Richard Hainsworth has sold out of local rating agency RusRating, shifting his attention to building an international rating business in Hong Kong. The new owner, Alexander Zaitsev, vowed Friday that he would expand the agency and challenge the bigger players in the country, such as Moody’s. “I have found a blue ocean [of opportunities] in this business,” Zaitsev said.
Hainsworth has been resident in Moscow since 1982 but has recently been spending most of his time in Hong Kong. In June, he and his U.S. and Chinese partners held a grand opening there of the Universal Credit Rating Group, which aims to become a major global rating agency based outside of the U.S.
Born in Uganda and educated in Britain, Hainsworth said Friday that he had begun looking to sell RusRating in 2009. He and Zaitsev declined to name the value of the deal.