PARIS (Standard&Poor's) June 18, 2002--Standard&Poor's said today that it has revised its outlook on France-based multi-utility Vivendi Environnement S.A. (VE) to stable from negative, reflecting Vivendi Universal S.A.'s (VU) decision to reduce its stake in VE to 40% from the current 63%, in part through dilution as a result of a planned capital increase by VE of up to €1.5 billion. At the same time, Standard&Poor's affirmed its triple-'B'-plus long-term and 'A-2' short-term corporate credit ratings on VE. "The capital increase will improve VE's financial flexibility and help fund ongoing growth investments," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Karl Nietvelt. "The fact that VU will no longer exercise majority control of VE is also
