LONDON – Standard&Poor's CreditWire 3/11/98 – Standard&Poor's today affirmed its single-'A'-plus issuer credit and senior unsecured long-term ratings and 'A-1' short-term issuer credit and commercial paper ratings of Daimler-Benz AG (Daimler) and related entities (see list below). The affirmation follows today's announcement by Daimler-Benz of a special pay-out of DM10.3 billion subject to the full cash pay-back of paid-out retained earnings of DM 7.4 billion (US$4 billion) within a reasonable time-frame. Standard&Poor's understands further, that the difference of DM2.9 billion is a tax refund to the company from the German tax authorities, which will be channeled through to the shareholders. The rationale of the transaction is to unlock the differential between the German corporate
