Fitch Ratings on Sept. 29 downgraded ' national long-termrating to A-(tur) from A(tur), with a stable outlook.

At the same time, the agency affirmed the national long-termratings of Turkish factoring companies Kapital Faktoring AS, Destek FaktoringAS, Eko Faktoring AS and Optima Faktoring Hizmeteleri AS.

The downgrade primarily reflects Lider's "significantlyhigher" leverage, with the debt-to-equity ratio reaching 8.4x at the endof the first half. Lider's national long-term rating also considers thecompany's moderate franchise, experienced management and its reasonableperformance.

The national long-term ratings of the five factoringcompanies that collectively controlled 15% of domestic receivables in Turkey'sfactoring sector at the end of the first half are driven by their stand-alonestrength. The ratings of each of the companies reflect their monoline businessmodels, with recourse factoring making up nearly all of the companies' assetsand revenues.

The ratings also factor in the potential instability of thecompanies' balance sheet ratios given the generally short-term nature of theirassets and liabilities, as well as the wholesale-funding reliant debtstructures.