KIEV, June 23 - Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Metinvest B.V.'s B1 corporate family rating to B2, its Aa3.ua national scale rating to A2.ua and Azovstal Capital's B2 bond rating to B3.

The outlook on all ratings is stable, reads a Moody’s statement.

According to the statement, the downgrade was prompted by the weak overall economic environment, which also has negative effects on the steel industry.

Moody's says that although Metinvest still performs better than most of its peers, its balance sheet structure and leverage ratios are expected to weaken in 2009 sufficiently to warrant a downgrade.