OREANDA-NEWS. Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today it assigned its 'B+' senior unsecured debt rating to the proposed 30-year, up to $3 billion MTN program of Sistema Capital S.A., the financing vehicle for Russian telecommunications and industrials conglomerate Sistema (JSFC) (BB-/Stable/--), the guarantor of the debt.

The rating on the proposed MTN program mirrors the senior unsecured debt ratings of the conglomerate," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Lorenzo Sliusarev. "We expect that Sistema will use the proposed MTN facility for general corporate purposes, including liquidity support and transaction funding or refinancing of existing debt obligations."

The rating on Sistema reflects the consolidated credit risk of its various operating subsidiaries, but principally that of its key telecoms assets, Mobile TeleSystems (OJSC) (MTS; BB-/Stable/--) and, to a lesser degree, Moscow City Telephone Network (JSC) (MGTS; BB-/Stable/--; Russia national scale 'ruAA-').