Similar to an earlier question, I am now looking at S&P's sovereign ratings. Here, as in the case of Moody's, a few things are unclear to me in terms of the definitions used by Standard & Poor's.
Several sovereign ratings (Foreign Currency LT Debt, obtained through CSDR in Bloomberg Terminal), contain a suffix u. For the case of Belgium, example given, ratings are denoted as AAu or AA+u. What does the u stand for?
What does the rating SD stand for?
SD is selective default
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/28/us-cyprus-downgrade-standardandpoors-idUSBRE95R0YQ20130628
+u is unsolicited rating http://lexicon.ft.com/Term?term=unsolicited-rating
Credit rating agencies all disclose their codes (and a general methodology) online.
"The 'u' identifier and 'unsolicited' designation are assigned to credit ratings initiated by parties other than the issuer or its agents, including those initiated by S&P Global Ratings."
"SD: An obligor rated 'SD' (selective default) or 'D' is in default... an 'SD' rating is assigned when S&P Global Ratings believes that the obligor has selectively defaulted on a specific issue or class of obligations but it will continue to meet its payment obligations on other issues or classes of obligations in a timely manner. An obligor's rating is lowered to 'D' or 'SD' if it is conducting a distressed exchange offer."
Source: https://www.standardandpoors.com/en_AU/web/guest/article/-/view/sourceId/504352
