OVERVIEW— On Sept. 27, we placed our ‘AA+’ rating on Assured Guaranty and its related subsidiaries
on CreditWatch negative.— Assured Guaranty (Europe) Ltd. and Assured Guaranty (UK) Ltd. provide financial
guarantees for several European structured finance transactions.— Consequently, we have placed on CreditWatch negative 23 European structured finance
ratings as they are linked to the rating on Assured Guaranty and its related subsidiaries.Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services today placed on CreditWatch negative its ratings on 23
ratings in 14 European securitization transactions following the CreditWatch negative placement
of our ‘AA+’ rating on Assured Guaranty Corp. and its related subsidiaries (see “Assured
Guaranty Ltd. Operating Companies Placed On CreditWatch Negative,” published on Sept.
27, 2011).Specifically, we have placed on CreditWatch negative our ratings on:— Five tranches in eight structured credit transactions, and— 18 tranches in six asset-backed securities (ABS) transactions.For the full list of today’s rating actions see “European Structured Finance CreditWatch
Placements Following Assured Guaranty CreditWatch Placement-Oct. 12, 2011.”Today’s CreditWatch placements reflect the CreditWatch placement of our rating on Assured
Guaranty and its related subsidiaries. As Assured Guaranty through its subsidiaries provides
financial guarantees in each of these transactions, either for the payment of the underlying
debt obligations or for the repayment of the notes, the ratings on these tranches are linked to
the rating on Assured Guaranty or one of its subsidiaries.In each case, the rating on the tranche is the higher of the rating on Assured Guaranty and
Standard & Poor’s Underlying Rating (SPUR) on that tranche. A SPUR is our opinion of the
stand-alone creditworthiness of an obligation—that is, the capacity to pay debt service on a
debt issue in accordance with its terms—without considering the applicable guarantee, which in
this case is the guarantee from Assured Guaranty.RELATED CRITERIA AND RESEARCH— European Structured Finance CreditWatch Placements Following Assured Guaranty CreditWatch
Placement-Oct. 12, 2011, Oct. 12, 2011— Assured Guaranty Ltd. Operating Companies Placed On CreditWatch Negative, Sept. 27, 2011— Counterparty And Supporting Obligations Methodology And Assumptions, Dec. 6, 2010— European Legal Criteria For Structured Finance Transactions, Aug. 28, 2008
Telenor has said the rights issue is to secure long-term
funding for the venture as bank loans to the telecoms sector
have dried up after a graft scandal.Unitech, which is India’s No.2 listed property firm, said
Telenor last November refused a long-term debt of 90 billion
rupees ($1.8 billion) from India’s top lender State Bank of
India and was now seeking to “enforce” a rights issue.Unitech said the joint venture does not now need funds.
It also said Telenor and its executives were not running the
business in the best interest of Uninor and its workforce.A Telenor spokesman for Asia did not return calls.The joint venture Unitech Wireless and Unitech’s
managing director, Sanjay Chandra, are among the three companies
and 14 people charged by Indian police in a massive telecoms
licensing scandal. All accused have denied any wrongdoing.Telenor has said the events described in the police charges
predate its investments in India.The Company Law Board is an independent quasi-judiciary body
that rules on corporate matters.
