OREANDA-NEWS. TeliaSonera AB's five-year Credit Default Swaps (CDS) widened 73% Thursday to price at the widest levels observed in four years, according to Fitch Solutions in its latest CDS Case Study Snapshot.

After consistently trading at 'AA/AA-' levels for the past year, based on current spread levels, the market is pricing TeliaSonera's credit risk in 'BBB' territory.

"Spread widening for the Swedish telecom is likely emanating from market concerns surrounding alleged corrupt practices within its Eurasian businesses, which the company has stated it is seeking to exit," said Diana Allmendinger, Director, Fitch Solutions.

Fitch Solutions case studies build on data from its CDS Pricing Service and proprietary quantitative models, including CDS Implied Ratings. These credit risk indicators are designed to provide real-time, market-based views of creditworthiness. As such, they can and often do reflect more short term market views on factors such as currencies, seasonal market effects and short-term technical influences. This is in contrast to Fitch Ratings' Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs), which are based on forward-looking fundamental credit analysis over an extended period of time.