PARIS (Standard&Poor's) Aug. 20, 2002--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings and outlook on France-based multi-utility Vivendi Environnement S.A. (VE; BBB+/Stable/A-2) remain unchanged following today's convertible-bond holders' vote to remove the cross-default clauses applying to VE's 40.8% owner Vivendi Universal S.A. (VU; BB/Watch Neg/B). This outcome is very beneficial to VE's stand-alone credit quality as it eliminates the company's exposure to a forced accelerated repayment of its €1.5 billion convertible bond in the event of a default by VU. "Standard&Poor's ratings and stable outlook on VE already took into consideration management's commitment to finding a satisfactory solution to forced early repayment of the convertible bond, together with adequate liquidity in place to cover
