LONDON (Standard&Poor's) July 23, 2007--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it affirmed its 'AA/A-1+' long- and short-term counterparty credit ratings on Barclays Bank PLC (Barclays). The outlook is stable. "The rating action follows the announcement of revised terms for Barclays' proposed takeover of ABN AMRO Bank N.V.," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Nick Hill. (ABN AMRO Bank N.V. is rated AA-/Watch Pos/A-1+). Rather than all stock, the offer is now 63% in Barclays shares. The new £16.7 billion cash element (37% of the total consideration) would be mostly funded by the sale of LaSalle Bank N.A. (A+/Watch Pos/A-1) to Bank of America Corp. (AA/Stable/A-1+), and the proceeds from issues of new Barclays shares to Temasek
