PARIS (Standard&Poor's) April 4, 2012--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that the ratings and outlook on France-based multi-utility GDF SUEZ S.A. (A/Stable/A-1) are not affected by the company's buy-out offer in cash for the 30% minority stake in U.K.-based International Power PLC (IPR; BBB-/Stable/--) it doesn't already own. We estimate the transaction value could range between €7 billion and €7.5 billion. Our view of GDF SUEZ's "excellent" business risk profile already factors in the full consolidation of IPR's operations. Moreover, we believe that the transaction would not alter our view of GDF SUEZ's "intermediate" financial risk profile, provided that GDF SUEZ only increases its bid modestly, if at all. This is because we anticipate that GDF SUEZ's
