NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) July 2, 2002--Standard&Poor's today assigned its triple-`B' rating to Aquila Inc.'s $500 million senior unsecured notes. At the same time, Standard&Poor's affirmed the triple-'B' corporate credit rating on Aquila. All ratings remain on CreditWatch with negative implications. Kansas City, Mo.-based Aquila has about $3 billion of total debt outstanding. "The ratings on energy company Aquila are on CreditWatch with negative implications, due in part to uncertainties surrounding the company's intent to acquire power producer Cogentrix Energy Inc.," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Todd Shipman. "Cogentrix is a U.S. independent power producer, with ownership in more than 30 power plants in operation, totaling over 4,000 MW of generation capacity," he continued.
