MELBOURNE (Standard&Poor's) March 10, 2011--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it had affirmed its 'BBB+' long-term corporate credit and debt ratings on New Zealand-based utility Genesis Power Ltd. (trading as Genesis Energy). At the same time, we revised the outlook on the rating to negative from stable. "The outlook revision reflects the increasing challenges facing the company's underlying business and our view that the company's financial flexibility may weaken because of its uncertain funding strategy for the proposed acquisition of the Tekapo assets," Standard&Poor's credit analyst Alicia Low said. "In our opinion, business challenges--such as the company's exposure to Kupe, vulnerability to oil price volatilities, and a weakening competitive position--have not been appropriately mitigated
