The company has left the CreditWatch list. Its ratings got there, December 17, as soon as the Deutsche Telekom AG announced its shrinking block of the MTS, or Mobile Telesystems, one of the Systema's principal affiliates.
Systema priority liabilities, whether guaranteed or not, retain their B rating, just as the group's branches.
The MTS stays at BB- for its long-term corporate credit rating and all non-guaranteed liabilities. It was stricken off the CreditWatch list, just as the mother company.
Another Systema arm, the Moscow City Telephone Network, or MGTS, had its long-term corporate credit rating and all non-guaranteed liabilities upgraded from B to BB-, and credit ratings from ruA to ruAA-, on the Russian scale.
Stability is forecast for all emitters, adds the release.
S&P experts think the Systema will be involved in the expected privatization of the Svyazinvest telecommunication holding. "We expect the Systema to fund its tentative bid out of profits from its recently placed stock, and we think it will be circumspect about strategic investments. In particular, corporate policies are not to drastically change the group's financial stability," says Lorenzo Sliusareff, S&P credit analyst.
