SAN FRANCISCO (Standard&Poor's) June 2, 2009--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that NRG Energy Inc.'s (BB-/Watch Pos/B-2) proposed $700 million unsecured notes issuance, announced today, will not affect ratings. We already factored the potential issue of these notes into our analysis when we raised NRG's corporate credit rating to 'BB-' from 'B+' on May 22, 2009. The company will use note proceeds to terminate the Merrill Lynch credit sleeve and for general corporate purposes. NRG originally funded its acquisition of Reliant Energy Inc.'s retail business with cash. If NRG completes this offering, then financial ratios will be slightly worse than those we cited at the time of the upgrade, but still sufficient for the 'BB-' rating level.
