KIEV, Dec. 18 - Moody's Investors Service has placed the B2 long-term Corporate Family Rating (CFR) of DTEK Holdings Ltd (DTEK), the Ukrainian utility, on review for possible downgrade.

KIEV, Dec. 18 - Fitch Ratings has downgraded Ukraine-based pipe and railway wheel producer Interpipe Limited's (Interpipe) Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'RD' (Restricted Default) from 'CCC', Fitch said in a statement.

KIEV, Dec. 18 – Security Service Chief Valentyn Nalyvaichenko has refuted the information about the involvement of the SBU into an attempt by employers of a Ukrainian company to smuggle from Russia technical documents and a sample of a state-of-the-art Russian device capable of protecting aircraft from interception by man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS).

LVIV, Dec. 21 – The Ukrainian Academic Research Network (Uarnet) will join the European network of scientific information exchange, Uarnet Director Ihor Protsykevych said.

KIEV, Dec. 18 – The State Mortgage Establishment (SME) is mulling the possibility of providing a loan repayment holiday to borrowers whose financial situation has been affected by the economic crisis, SME Chairman Kyrylo Shevchenko said.

KIEV, Dec. 18 – The Antimonopoly Committee has officially recommended that Kiev city state administration revise and set economically justifiable tariffs for passenger transportation by electric transport of Kiev Metropoliten and Kyivpastrans.

KIEV, Dec. 21 - Ireland's Quinn Group plans to invest up to EUR 1 billion in real estate in Ukraine, Eastern Europe, Russia and India, Quinn Group director general, Volodymyr Shymkin, told Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday.

KIEV, Dec. 21 ??“ Russia's Lighting Technologies Company has launched the first part of a new lamp plant in Slavutych in Kiev region, the company press service reported on Wednesday.

KIEV, Dec. 20 - Erste Bank Austria has reached agreement with the shareholders of Kiev-based Bank Prestige to acquire 100% of the bank for $104 million, Erste Bank said in a press release.

PRAGUE, Dec. 20 - Home Credit, a consumer lending group controlled by top Czech financial group PPF, said it completed the acquisitions of two Ukrainian financial institutions - bank Agrobank and non-banking financial firm PrivatKredit.

The acquisitions are part of the group??™s expansion strategy, Home Credit reported.