PARIS (Standard&Poor's CreditWire) April 19, 1999--Standard&Poor's today lowered its long-term corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings on Electricite de France (EDF) to double-'A'-plus from triple-'A' and removed them from CreditWatch, where they had been placed on Nov. 30, 1998. The outlook is negative. The triple-'A' rating on EDF's specific debt issues that carry an explicit guarantee of the Republic of France was affirmed. Standard&Poor's also affirmed its 'A-1'-plus short-term corporate credit and commercial paper ratings on the company. The CreditWatch placement followed the announcement that EDF would acquire London Electricity PLC (triple-'B'-minus/Watch Pos/'A-3') from Entergy Corp., in a transaction involving a cash payment of UK1.4 billion ($2.3 billion). All of the triple-'B'-minus long-term
