Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that Aquila Inc.'s (B/Negative/--) announcement that it has assigned its 50% interest in the Aries Power Project to Calpine Corp. and ended its 20-year tolling obligation is a positive event for the company's credit quality. This is because the tolling agreement termination demonstrates management's commitment to its restructuring plan and allows Aquila to move closer to fully exiting the energy merchant business. In connection with this transaction, Aquila paid Calpine $5 million and agreed to assign to Calpine certain transmission and ancillary contract rights. The termination agreement returns to Aquila $12.5 million in posted collateral provided to Calpine in support of ongoing energy-trading contracts and eliminates Aquila's capacity payments, which were scheduled to
