S&P: Golden Telecom on positive watch

Standard & Poor's said it placed its BB long-term corporate credit rating on Golden Telecom Inc. on CreditWatch with positive implications, adding that the CreditWatch placement follows the announcement that Vimpel-Communications (JSC) (BB+/Watch negative) is negotiating to acquire Golden for $4.2 billion in cash.

According to S&P, the rating on Golden is likely to benefit from ownership by VimpelCom, although an upgrade is not warranted at this stage.

The agency noted that an upgrade would depend on the impact of the acquisition on the rating on VimpleCom, which has been placed on CreditWatch with negative implications in anticipation of the transaction's impact VimpelCom's credit measures, as well as our assessment of the business and financial integration between the two companies.

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