U.S. specialty chemical company Ecolab Inc. closed on its acquisition of Nalco Holding Co. on Dec. 1, 2011, and plans to issue senior unsecured notes as part of its funding for the acquisition. We are lowering our corporate credit and existing senior unsecured debt ratings on Ecolab to 'BBB+' from 'A' and removing all ratings (including those on Nalco) from CreditWatch with negative implications, where we placed them on July 20, 2011, following Ecolab's announcement of its plan for the acquisition. At the same time we assigned our 'BBB+' rating to the company's proposed senior unsecured notes. Our rating on the company's $3.5 billion commercial paper (CP) program remains unchanged at 'A-2'. We are also raising our ratings, including the
