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S&P may raise Telesystem Int'l Wireless ratings
Wednesday June 18, 4:41 pm ET
(The following statement was released by the rating agency)
NEW YORK, June 18 - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services today said it placed its ratings on Montreal, Que.-based Telesystem International Wireless Inc. (TIW) on CreditWatch with positive implications, including the 'CCC+' long-term corporate credit rating.
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"The CreditWatch placement follows the announcement by TIW that net proceeds from an offering of senior notes (due July 2009) by Mobifon Holdings B.V. would be used to retire the remaining principal balance on TIW's senior guaranteed notes due December 2003. Following repayment of the notes, TIW would be substantially debt free at the corporate level," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Joe Morin.
TIW owns and operates wireless telecommunications services in Romania through Mobifon, and in the Czech Republic through Cesky Mobil A.S.; both are held through its subsidiary Clearwave, which is 85.6%-owned by TIW. TIW indirectly owns 49% of Mobifon S.A. and about 21% of Cesky; however, it effectively controls both companies due to voting arrangements and the holding company structures that are in place. In addition, TIW indirectly holds a 12% equity interest in Indian mobile operator Hexacom India Ltd.
Standard & Poor's will resolve the CreditWatch resolution following repayment of the TIW notes, which is expected in the next couple of months. The long-term corporate credit rating assigned TIW will reflect the consolidated credit risk of the combined Mobifon and Cesky Mobil operations. Standard & Poor's recently assigned a credit rating of 'B' to Mobifon Holdings B.V., which owns 57.1% of Mobifon S.A., TIW's strongest subsidiary. Cesky is considered a weaker operator than Mobifon, as it has yet to turn free cash flow positive and will continue to require funding from its equity investors at least through 2003. Standard & Poor's has not assigned a credit rating to Cesky, which could have a negative impact on the overall TIW ratings. Standard & Poor's expects that the ratings on TIW will fall within the range of 'CCC+' to 'B'.
Complete ratings information is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect, Standard & Poor's Web-based credit analysis system, at
www.ratingsdirect.com. All ratings affected by this rating action can be found on Standard & Poor's public Web site at
www.standardandpoors.com; under Credit Ratings in the left navigation bar, select Credit Ratings Actions.
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