London (Standard&Poor's) April 14, 2003--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its 'BBB-' long-term and its 'A-3' short-term ratings on Germany-based cement maker HeidelbergCement AG remain on CreditWatch, where they were placed with negative implications on April 2, 2003, following notification that the company will be fined for alleged quota fixing. The German Federal Cartel Office announced today that, as a result of its investigation into allegations of quota fixing over many years in the Southern German cement market, HeidelbergCement will be fined €251.5 million. The fact that the company intends to appeal this decision means that there should be no immediate cash impact. It is difficult to estimate, at this stage, what the ultimate impact on
