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TeliaSonera facing "manageable" fine risks over probes into Eurasian business - Moody's [IntelliNews - Weekly Reports](IntelliNews - Weekly Reports Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) The ongoing investigations into investments in Eurasian countries carried out by Scandinavian telecommunications giant TeliaSonera do not pose a significant financial risk for the group, Moody's analysts believe. "The company is seeking to improve its overall compliance and mitigate future risks and, while fines are possible, Moody's would expect them to be manageable for the company," Moody's wrote in its latest credit opinion on TeliaSonera. TeliaSonera, which is jointly controlled by the Swedish and Finnish states, owns local subsidiaries in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) and the Caucasus (Azerbaijan and Georgia). The company has been subject to increasing scrutiny by prosecutors in the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the US, since corruption claims related to Ucell, its subsidiary in Uzbekistan, emerged in 2007. Subsequent internal reviews raised doubts over the company's practices in other subsidiaries like Kcell in Kazakhstan. Eurasia as a whole, including business units in Moldova and Nepal, contributed to 24% of TeliaSonera's total sales and 30% of its Ebitda in the first nine months of 2014. "Eurasia will remain a relatively small contributor to the group's cash flows because of the high capex requirements in the region and the difficulties in accessing cash flows in some of these markets, such as Uzbekistan and Nepal," Moody's added. (c) 2014 Emerging Markets Direct Media Holdings LLC Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |