NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Dec. 1, 2006-- Standard&Poor's Rating Services today lowered its corporate credit and senior unsecured ratings on Brinker International to 'BBB-' from 'BBB'. All ratings were removed from CreditWatch, where they had been placed with negative implications since Aug. 29, 2006. The outlook is stable. "The downgrade is based on Brinker's more aggressive financial policy and our expectation that over time its credit protection measures will decline," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Diane Shand. On Aug. 29, 2006, Dallas, Texas-based Brinker announced plans to repurchase up to $450 million of stock in a "Dutch auction" tender; however, only $50.4 million tendered. "Still, we believe over time the company will repurchase up to the
