S&P announces expanded short-term ratings for junk issuers

New York, April 19 - Standard & Poor's announced the first ratings assignments under its expanded short-term scale for high-yield issuers.

The rating agency assigned new opinions on 73 industrial and utility companies in the United States and Canada.

The short-term ratings represent the company's creditworthiness over a 12-month horizon.

Under the new scale, junk issuers can have a short-term rating of A-3, B-1, B-2, B-3, C and D.

S&P said the new assessments are intended to meet the evolving needs of investors in the capital markets and to provide greater differentiation of short-term credit risk, greater transparency with respect to near-term risk, and more flexibility in the correlation between short- and long-term ratings.

"While Standard & Poor's credit ratings have traditionally considered a medium- to long-term horizon - typically three to five years - many investors are also uniquely focused on the short term," said Edward Emmer, executive managing director, Corporate and Government Ratings, at Standard & Poor's Rating Services, said in a news release.

"As capital markets become increasingly specialized, we believe this short-term rating scale, together with other recent initiatives like enhanced liquidity analysis for investment-grade issuers and bank loan recovery ratings, offer investors tools and analysis that meet different information requirements and investment time horizons."

The announcements follow a 30-day comment period.

S&P said most reaction was supportive. It added that discussions will continue.

About 93% of the initial ratings are in the B-1, B-2 and B-3 categories, 41% of them a B-2, 34% a B-1.

S&P added that it plans to assign more short-term ratings over the next year to U.S. and non-U.S. industrials, utilities, sovereigns and financial institutions.

New assignments are as follows (issuer name, followed by long-term rating with outlook, then new short-term rating):

* AmerisourceBergen Corp., BB+/Positive, A-3;

* Sun Microsystems Inc., BB+/Stable, A-3;

* TRW Automotive Inc., BB+/Stable, A-3;

* Tesoro Corp., BB+/Stable, A-3;

* Mediacom Communications Corp., BB-/Stable, B-1;

* Del Monte Foods Co., BB-/Positive, B-1;

* Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., BB-/Negative, B-1;

* Service Corp. International, BB/Negative, B-1;

* Lucent Technologies Inc., B/Positive, B-1;

* Juniper Networks Inc., B+/Positive, B-1;

* Xerox Corp., BB-/Stable, B-1;

* Georgia-Pacific Corp., BB+/Stable, B-1;

* Mosaic Co., BB/Stable, B-1;

* Invista BV, BB/Stable, B-1;

* JohnsonDiversey Holdings Inc., BB-/Stable, B-1;

* Lyondell Chemical Co., B+/Watch Pos, B-1;

* Silgan Holdings Inc., BB/Positive, B-1;

* Crown Holdings Inc., BB-/Stable, B-1;

* Tenneco Automotive Inc., B+/Positive, B-1;

* ArvinMeritor Inc., BB+/Negative, B-1;

* Terex Corp., BB-/Stable, B-1;

* United States Steel Corp., BB/Stable, B-1;

* Chesapeake Energy Corp., BB-/Positive, B-1;

* CMS Energy Corp., BB/Stable, B-1;

* AmeriGas Partners L.P., BB+/Stable, B-1;

* TECO Energy Inc., BB/Stable, B-1;

* NRG Energy Inc., B+/Stable, B-1;

* Tucson Electric Power Co., BB/Stable, B-1;

* Amazon.com, B+/Positive, B-1;

* Boyd Gaming Corp., BB/Stable, B-2;

* Penn National Gaming Inc., BB-/Positive, B-2;

* Las Vegas Sands Corp., BB-/Stable, B-2;

* Station Casinos Inc., BB/Positive, B-2;

* Cablevision Systems Corp., BB/Developing, B-2;

* Qwest Communications International Inc., BB-/Watch Neg, B-2;

* Time Warner Telecom Inc., B/Negative, B-2;

* Centennial Communications Corp., B-/Positive, B-2;

* Dole Food Co. Inc., BB-/Negative, B-2;

* Interpublic Group of Cos. Inc., BB-/Watch Neg, B-2;

* Triad Hospitals Inc., BB-/Positive, B-2;

* IKON Office Solutions Inc., BB/Stable, B-2;

* Rite Aid Corp., B+/Stable, B-2;

* Headwaters Inc., B+/Positive, B-2;

* Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., B+/Stable, B-2;

* Nortek Inc., B/Stable, B-2;

* AK Steel Corp., B+/Stable, B-2;

* JetBlue Airways Corp., BB-/Negative, B-2;

* Allegheny Energy Supply Co. LLC, B+/Positive, B-2;

* Williams Cos. Inc., B+/Stable, B-2;

* Forest Oil Corp., BB-/Stable, B-2;

* Dynegy Inc., B/Negative, B-2;

* Pacific Energy Partners L.P., BB/Stable, B-2;

* Sierra Pacific Resources, B+/Negative, B-2;

* Avista Corp., BB+/Stable, B-2;

* Reliant Energy Inc., B+/Stable, B-2;

* Vintage Petroleum Inc., BB-/Negative, B-2;

* Novelis Inc., BB-/Stable, B-2;

* Tembec Inc., B/Stable, B-2;

* Rogers Communications Inc., BB/Stable, B-2;

* Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. Inc., B-/Negative, B-3;

* Charter Communications Inc., CCC+/Negative, B-3;

* Level 3 Communications Inc., CCC/Developing, B-3;

* Tenet Healthcare Corp., B/Negative, B-3;

* Northwest Airlines Corp., B/Negative, B-3;

* AMR Corp., B-/Stable, B-3;

* Continental Airlines Inc., B/Negative, B-3;

* Flowserve Corp., BB-/Stable, B-3;

* Smurfit-Stone Container Corp., B+/Stable, B-3;

* Aquila Inc., B-/Negative, B-3;

* El Paso Corp., B-/Stable, B-3;

* PSEG Energy Holdings LLC, BB-/Negative, B-3;

* Nortel Networks Ltd., B-/Watch Dev, B-3;

* Paxson Communications Corp., CCC+/Negative, C.

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