LONDON (Standard&Poor's) May 28, 2003--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings on four Kazakh infrastructure companies--JSC Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Co. (BB/Positive/--), Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (BB/Positive/--), KazTransGas/ Intergas Central Asia group (BB/Stable/--), and KazTransOil (BB/Stable/--)--remain unchanged following the upgrade of the ratings on the Republic of Kazakhstan (local currency BBB-/Stable/A-3; foreign currency BB+/Stable/B). As outlined in the research article "Kazakh Infrastructure Companies Increase Reliance on Stand-Alone Credit Quality", published on RatingsDirect, Standard&Poor's Web-based credit analysis system, on Feb. 17, 2003, the credit ratings on the four companies are not automatically raised in step with the sovereign rating. They are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. The Kazakh government is now less keen to guarantee
