NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Aug. 1, 2005--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that DPL Inc.'s (BB/Positive/--) announcement that its board of directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $400 million of common stock would not immediately affect the ratings or outlook on the company. Although the stock repurchase plans are likely to be funded with the company's excess cash levels of about $1 billion from its recently completed investment portfolio sale, execution of this sizable equity initiatives in lieu of further debt reduction or reinvestments in its core utilities may temper DPL's overall upward credit momentum. Future positive rating actions on DPL will be strongly correlated with the actual timing of cash proceeds toward the balancing of
