A rating is a "passport" to a wider audience of creditors and investors. It will help attract the international capital that a company needs to fulfill its growth and profit goals.

A rating opens up an important alternative financing option, often more cost-effective and longer term than bank loans.

It will enable the company to estimate borrowing costs more accurately.

It prompts foreign investors to take notice of the company since an independent assessment has been done.

A rating will draw the company into the global financial and investing community and help keep company management current with international standards of disclosure.

A rating exercise provides a taste of the kind of international scrutiny the company must expect in today’s interdependent and globalizing world. It forces a certain awareness and discipline on management.

Having no rating at all implies to investors that the company cannot get a rating and/or must have defaulted in the past.

A first-time rating would be a path-breaking event and an important legacy for the current management of the company.

Requesting a rating avoids an imposed unsolicited rating and allows you to be in control of the process.

Using a ratings advisor greatly increases the odds your first rating will be optimal, i.e., the best possible given your individual circumstances.