NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) July 18, 2003--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that there would be no impact on Constellation Brands Inc.'s rating or outlook (BB/Negative/--) following its announcement that it plans to issue class A common stock and depositary shares in concurrent public offerings. The issue will include $150 million of mandatory convertible preferred shares that will convert into a fixed number of class A common shares and pay a fixed quarterly cash distribution. Proceeds from the offerings will be used to repay Constellation's bridge loan, incurred as part of the financing of its BRL Hardy acquisition, as well as some term loan borrowings. The negative outlook continues to reflect Standard&Poor's expectations of weakened credit
