Asset FinanceReceives International “B” Rating

Press Release: 29 January 2010

Asset Finance LTD Receives International “B” Rating

"The directors of Asset Finance Ltd today confirmed that the company recently received a "B" rating for both its short and long term debt from international credit rating agency Standard and Poors.

This rating is in line with Asset Finance's expectations and is consistent with Asset Finance's announcement in mid October 2009 that, because of the nature of its business and in particular its relatively small size the company believed that it, along with the majority of finance companies operating in New Zealand, was unlikely to achieve the "BB" credit rating required to qualify for the extended Government Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme from October 2010.

Clive George, Managing Director of Asset Finance, commented that this rating fully justified Asset Finances decision to exit the Crown Guarantee Scheme in early November 2009. Mr George also noted that the Asset Finance directors are satisfied with this result. This was our first ever credit rating and we are satisfied with the result, especially given the industry turmoil in recent times. The rating scale we are rated against is the same scale used for those companies with hundreds of billions of dollars of assets, so the B rating in part reflects our relatively small size and capital base compared to the other companies.”

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