NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Jan. 27, 2004--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services placed its 'A+' long-term corporate credit, senior unsecured debt, and preferred stock ratings on Cargill Inc. and related entities on CreditWatch with negative implications. Negative implications means that the ratings could be affirmed or lowered after Standard&Poor's completes its review. At the same time, Standard&Poor's affirmed its 'A-1' short-term corporate credit and commercial paper ratings on Cargill. Privately owned, Minnetonka, Minn.-based Cargill has approximately $8.0 billion of rated debt. "The CreditWatch placement follows Cargill's and IMC Global Inc.'s announcement that the two companies had signed a definitive agreement to combine their fertilizer businesses to create a new publicly traded company," said Standard&Poor's
