LONDON (Standard&Poor's) July 8, 2009--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it affirmed the 'CCC+' rating on the senior unsecured bonds issued by Germany-based building materials group HeidelbergCement AG (HC; B-/Negative/B), and subsidiaries HeidelbergCement Finance B.V., Hanson Ltd., and Hanson Australia Funding Ltd. At the same time, the bonds were removed from CreditWatch, where they were placed with developing implications on June 24, 2009. Our recovery rating on the bonds remains unchanged at '5', indicating our expectation of modest (10%-30%) recovery in the event of a payment default. The affirmation follows the completion of our review of the group's new debt structure, and further information on the security package. In affirming the ratings we have made no
