PARIS (Standard&Poor's) July 22, 2008--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it has lowered its long- and short-term corporate credit ratings on French gas incumbent Gaz de France S.A. (GDF) to 'A/A-1' from 'AA-/A-1+', after Belgian multi-utility Suez S.A. was merged into GDF. Following the merger, the company has been legally renamed GDF Suez S.A. The outlook is positive. The ratings on GDF and Suez were also removed from CreditWatch, where they had originally been placed on Feb. 27, 2006, following the initial merger announcement. We withdrew our corporate credit rating on Suez. We also lowered our ratings on the former GDF's debt to 'A', and raised our ratings on the former Suez's debt to 'A'. The
