PARIS (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 24, 2005--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings and outlook on France-based utility Gaz de France (GDF; AA/Negative/A-1+) are unchanged, following publication yesterday of the pension reform's impact on the group, which was in line with expectations. GDF will be responsible for the payment of only €1.625 billion ($2.16 billion) of GDF's €14.8 billion prereform pension liabilities. Taking into account the existing externalized pension insurance cover, GDF's funding deficit for pension and other postemployment obligations is therefore expected to be only €700 million in 2005. GDF's 2004 operating results were strong: Cash flow generation rose a higher-than-expected 7% to €3.4 billion, and net debt fell to €4.4 billion. The ratio of pension-adjusted
