NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) March 20, 2007--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said it placed its 'BB-' corporate credit rating on Brentwood, Tenn.-based hospital owner and operator Community Health Systems Inc. on CreditWatch with negative implications. Community announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Triad Hospitals Inc. in a transaction valued at about $6.8 billion. This amount is greater than the previous offer of $6.4 billion by CCMP Capital Advisors and GS Capital Partners to acquire Triad. Although the transaction is still subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, Community has indicated that if the transaction goes through as expected the company will issue a significant amount of new debt that we believe will substantially weaken its
