MADRID (Standard&Poor's) Nov. 26, 2009--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings and outlook on telecommunications operator France Telecom S.A. (FT; A-/Stable/A-2) are unaffected by FT's announcement this morning that it has reached an agreement with Danish telecom operator TDC A/S (BB-/Positive/B) to combine their respective Swiss operations, Orange Switzerland and Sunrise Communications S.A. The transaction, which would enable FT to become a 75% shareholder in the combined entity, would imply a payment of €1.5 billion by FT to TDC at closing, with several options for a subsequent acquisition of TDC's remaining 25% stake as of the first anniversary of closing for a minimum price of €1.2 billion. In our view, FT has headroom under its
