NEW YORK (Standard & Poor's) May 6, 2004--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services today said that the announcement by Home Depot Inc. (AA/Stable/A-1+) regarding its plan to acquire White Cap Construction Supply Inc. has no impact on the ratings or outlook on the company. White Cap is a distributor of specialty hardware, tools, and materials to contractors, with approximately $500 million of sales. Although no price has been disclosed for this cash transaction, Standard & Poor's believes that this acquisition in itself does not constitute a credit-damaging acquisition. Home Depot generated operating cash flow in excess of $4.0 billion in 2003, and had $2.8 billion of cash on the balance sheet as of Feb. 1, 2004. The acquisition is part of
