S&P: Cool Holding secureds BB-, unsecureds B-

Standard & Poor's said it assigned a B+ long-term corporate credit rating to Cool Holding Ltd., along with a BB- rating to the $460 million and €210 million senior secured notes due 2019 issued by Altice Financing SA.

The recovery rating on these notes is 2, indicating 70% to 90% expected default recovery.

S&P also said it assigned a B- rating to the $425 million senior unsecured notes due 2020 issued by Altice Finco SA. The recovery rating on these notes is 6, indicating 0 to 10% expected default recovery.

The outlook is stable.

The ratings reflect the company's highly leveraged financial risk profile and derive support from its satisfactory business risk profile, S&P said.

Cool issued $1.2 billion of new notes in November 2012 primarily to fund the acquisition of the 31% stake that Cool did not already own in Hot Telecommunication Systems Ltd.

The agency said it also understands that Cool and Hot have used the notes to refinance some debt at both companies.

Cool's financial risk is constrained by the above-average complexity of the group's corporate structure, as well as potential future changes in it, S&P said, and the possibility of a transfer of additional assets into a new entity in the future.

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