NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Oct. 11, 2004--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it assigned its 'CCC+' rating to Calpine Corp.'s (B/Negative/--) $736 million unsecured convertible notes due 2014. The rating on the notes is the same as Calpine's existing unsecured debt and two notches lower than the corporate credit rating. The outlook is negative. The rating on Calpine, a San Jose, Calif.-based company that develops, acquires, owns, and operates power generation facilities, reflects the company's weak credit statistics, increased business risks, and its limited opportunities to reduce its debt. These weaknesses are somewhat mitigated by Calpine's contractual revenue base, which offsets some of the cash flow volatility caused by merchant power sales. In addition, Calpine has proven
