MILAN (Standard&Poor's) July 28, 2006--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today it assigned its 'A-' senior unsecured debt rating to the proposed term loan facility to be issued by Autostrade SpA (A/Watch Neg/A-1), Italy's largest toll road operator. The loan is for an amount up to €2,144 million. At the same time, the rating was placed on CreditWatch with negative implications, in line with the corporate credit and existing senior unsecured debt ratings on Autostrade. The term loan is expected to have a maturity of 12 months, extendable to 18 months. The loan will be used to bridge finance an extraordinary dividend of up to €2.1 billion, to be distributed just prior to the merger between Autostrade and
