Welcome to the major leagues of debt. Collateralized debt obligations, almost always referred to as a CDOs, are horrendously complicated deals that often leave anyone without a MBA wondering what was put into these CDOs.

The first thing to understand about bonds, (aka debt) is that bonds are often backed by something else. Think about your home mortgage. If you don't pay your mortgage, the bank can take the house. You end up homeless, and the bank sells the house to pay off the rest of that mortgage. There is something "backing" that mortgage; something lender can fall back on, if you don't pay your bills like a good human being. That's called collateral.

CDOs are one flavor of an entire sector of investing called structured finance, and they are also backed. CDOs, in the simplest concept, are just bonds backed by something else. In most cases, a CDO is backed by a collection of various types of debt. CDOs can be home mortgages, or other types of debt like credit cards, auto loans, and personal loans. Most of these types of debt are usually considered a bit more risky and they don't have the backing that a home loan does. So, if you think it through, you can imagine that CDOs are usually considered a risky investment.

To take a step further, understand that CDOs have multiple flavors within each CDO. These flavors are called tranches. If you've taken French, you might recognize the word, it means "slice" or "portion." Each slice of that CDO you invest in is a little different and carries different amounts of risk.

You could invest in the lowest risk tranche of the CDO, which would provide you lower risk. But, you don't get a good return on that investment. Or, you can be the heroic adventurer of bonds and invest in the lowest-grade tranche of the CDO. You'll make an amazing return, but if the economy even looks at you wrong, you might lose the entire investment.

CDOs aren¿t easy, and are almost always invested in by mutual funds, insurance companies and hedge funds. As an individual investor, you will probably not come across a CDO you can participate in.

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Wednesday, July 02, 2008

INTRACOM TELECOM Signs a EUR 150 Million Bond Loan Agreement

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MOSCOW, Jul 02, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) ----JSC SITRONICS ("SITRONICS" or "The Company") (LSE:SITR), a leading provider of telecommunications, IT and microelectronic solutions in Russia and the CIS, today announced that INTRACOM TELECOM, a part of SITRONICS Telecom Solutions business division, has signed a EUR150 million bond loan agreement arranged jointly by Alpha Bank, HSBC, Geniki bank, National Bank of Greece and Piraeus Bank.

The proceeds of the loan will be used to refinance existing bank indebtedness of INTRACOM TELECOM and also to finance the company's development plans which mainly include investments for undertaking new projects and its expansion to new markets.

Alpha Bank acted as Lead Arranger, HSBC and Geniki Bank acted as Co-Lead Arrangers, National Bank of Greece and Piraeus Bank acted as Arrangers and E.F.G. Eurobank, FBB, Aspis Bank and Millennium Bank acted as Managers. ***

For further information, please visit www.sitronics.com

SITRONICS is a leading provider of telecommunication solutions, including software, equipment and systems integration, IT solutions and microelectronic solutions in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States with a strong presence in Central and Eastern Europe and a growing presence in the Middle East and Africa.

SITRONICS serves over 3,500 clients, maintains offices in 30 countries and exports its products and services to more than 60 countries. SITRONICS has over 10,000 employees of whom approximately 4,600 are involved in research and development.

SITRONICS' key Telecommunication Solutions operations are based in Prague, Czech Republic and Athens, Greece, while the company's IT Solutions and Microelectronic Solutions divisions are based in Kiev, Ukraine and Zelenograd, Russia respectively.

For the three months ended March 31, 2008, SITRONICS' revenues were US$ 310 million. As of 31 March 2008, SITRONICS had total assets of US$ 1.97 billion. SITRONICS is majority owned by Sistema, the largest diversified holding company in Russia and CIS.

SITRONICS has developed strategic alliances in its home markets with Cisco Systems, STMicroelectronics, Infineon and Giesecke & Devrient in relation to certain products and services. SITRONICS has vendor relationships with Siemens, Ericsson, Motorola, ORACLE, Intel, Sun Microsystems and Microsoft. Key customers include Sistema group companies, such as MTS, Comstar UTS and MTT, and also OTE, Cosmote, Vodafone, Ericsson, Arcelor Mittal (formerly Mittal Steel) and TCL.

INTRACOM TELECOM is a leading developer and producer of telecommunication systems as well as provider of integrated solutions and professional services to fixed and mobile operators in the EEMEA region. Over 100 customers in more than 50 countries choose INTRACOM TELECOM for its state-of-the-art products and solutions. INTRACOM TELECOM has 2,700 employees, operates subsidiaries in 14 countries and is amongst the largest European companies leading in R&D investments. Since June 2006, INTRACOM TELECOM is controlled by JSC SITRONICS (Russia) with 51%. JSC SITRONICS is the technology subsidiary of JSFC SISTEMA, a leading diversified holding company in Russia and the CIS. INTRACOM HOLDINGS Group (Greece) retains a 49% stake.

Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of SITRONICS. You can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "will," "could," "may" or "might" the negative of such terms or other expressions. These statements are only predictions and actual events or results may differ materially. We do not intend to or undertake any obligation to update these statements to reflect events and circumstances occurring after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Many factors could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements, including, among others, general economic conditions, our competitive environment, risks associated with operating in Russia, rapid technological and market change in our industries, and other factors specifically related to SITRONICS and its operations.

SOURCE: SITRONICS

SITRONICS Corporate
   Communications Irina Lanina Vice President Tel: +7 495 225 0030 lanina@sitronics.com or Shared Value Limited Larisa Kogut-Millings
   Investor Relations Tel: +44 (0) 20 7321 5037 sitronics@sharedvalue.net