FRANKFURT (Standard&Poor's) Jan. 26, 2005--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today it assigned its 'AA-' long-term debt rating to the €1.2 billion Basket Index Tracking Equity Linked Securities (BITES) due in 2008, launched today by Germany-based Allianz AG (AZAG; AA-/Negative/A-1+), the holding company of the Allianz group. At the same time, Standard&Poor's assigned its 'A' junior subordinated debt rating to the separate approximately €1.4 billion perpetual subordinated bond to be issued by AZAG. The ratings are provisional and subject to confirmation of the final amount, terms, and conditions. The rating on the BITES reflects their status as senior unsecured obligations of AZAG. The standard two-notch differential between the counterparty credit rating on AZAG and the junior
