Moody's ups VimpelCom ratings

Moody's Investors Service said it has upgraded the ratings of Vimpel-Communication, including the company's senior implied rating to Ba3 from B1 and the company's $250 million 10.45% loan participation notes due 2005 (issued through JP Morgan without recourse, pursuant to a loan agreement) to B1 from B3.

Concurrently, Moody's assigned a prospective B1 rating to the company's proposed $300 million in new loan participation notes.

The outlook is stable.

Moody's said the ratings upgrade reflects VimpelCom's continued strong operating progress since the initial ratings assignment in April 2002. Over the period, the company's subscriber base has grown from approximately 2.1 million subscribers (of which approximately 90.5% was in the Moscow market) as of Dec. 31, 2001 to approximately 11.4 million subscribers (of which 49.5% in Moscow).

For the year ended Dec. 31, 2003 VimpelCom reported net revenues and EBITDA of approximately $1.3 billion and $613.2 million, respectively, and cash flows from operations of $511.9 million.

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