NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) May 4, 2004--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that Duke Energy Corp.'s (BBB/Stable/A-2) announcement that it has reached an agreement to sell eight southeast U.S. merchant power plants with about 5,300 MW of capacity for $475 million supports credit quality. Standard&Poor's also said that there is no change to the rating or outlook on the company because the sale was already factored into the rating. The asset sale is in line with Duke Energy's plan to reduce debt with asset sale proceeds and also reduce its merchant generation exposure in the southeastern U.S., where reserve margins are high. In addition to the cash proceeds from the asset sale, Duke Energy expects to
