/KASE, September 12, 11/ - Kazakhtelecom (Astana), whose securities are
officially listed at Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), has provided KASE with
the following press-release of September 9, 2011:
quote
Standard & Poor's Governance Services said today that it had affirmed and
immediately withdrawn its 'GAMMA-5+' Governance, Accountability, Management
Metrics, and Analysis score assigned to Kazakhtelecom (JSC), the largest
telecommunications operator in Kazakhstan.
Kazakhtelecom's overall GAMMA score is the result of four component scores
ranging from a low of 1 to a high of 10: Shareholder influence: '5+'
(no change), Shareholder rights: '6' (raised from '5+'), Transparency, audit,
and enterprise risk management: '6' (no change).
Kazakhtelecom continued to develop its corporate governance procedures in 2011.
The board played an active role in the decision-making process and we believe
the newly created strategy committee has become an effective platform for
strategic discussions, - said Standard & Poor's governance analyst Ekaterina
Marushkevich.
Noting some weaknesses, Standard & Poor's Governance Services admit a fairly
high level of Kazakhtelecom's transparency and names the following strengths of
corporate governance practices: most directors on Kazakhtelecom's board are
either independent or represent the interests of minority shareholders, the
board-level audit and remuneration committees are active and consist only of
independent members, annual financials according to International Financial
Reporting Standards (IFRS) were available on time, accordingly, dividends were
paid out earlier than in previous years.
The withdrawal of the GAMMA score on Kazakhtelecom is made at Standard & Poor's
initiative. It reflects our decision to cease providing stand-alone governance
scores, while continuing to incorporate governance analysis in our global and
local scale credit ratings.
The full version of the press-release is available on Standard & Poor's website
http://www.standardandpoors.com/.
PR Department
JSC "Kazakhtelecom"
unquote
[2011-09-12]