| Summary: | Background: Increasingly, companies choose to finance their business with corporate bonds which has resulted in an increased demand on credit ratings. As such the rating agencies have a very important role in the financial markets. Examining the value of a credit-rating can be very interesting for both issuer and investor. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to identify and define the value of rating. Execution: The study is built upon nine interviews with rated and non-rated firms and investors. Result: The most important value of rating is the greater access to the corporate- and CP market. This infers that additional capital can be issued, in comparison to that available from bank loans, however, not necessarily at a lower rate. Consequently, the rate is not the driving factor concerning the choice of buying a rating. Rating has great effect on the pricing of bonds and CP’s, which is a result of the reliance investors have on the rating agencies. Rating affects the investment decision directly through the investment mandates, and indirectly through the effect on the individual investment decision.
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