NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's CreditWire) Jan. 20, 2000--Standard&Poor's today lowered its ratings for Archer Daniels Midland Inc. (ADM) and related entities, as listed below. All ratings are removed from CreditWatch, where they were placed Oct. 19, 1999. The current outlook is stable. About $4.7 billion of total debt is outstanding. The downgrade reflects a reduction in ADM's financial flexibility resulting from a continued difficult agriculture operating environment, exacerbated by insufficient returns on recent investments and Standard&Poor's expectation of additional acquisition activity. Still, ADM's investment-grade rating is supported by its position as one of the world's leading agribusiness companies, with major market positions in agricultural processing and merchandising, as well as industrial production. Standard&Poor's
