NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) July 24, 2007--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it lowered the corporate and senior unsecured debt ratings on Dallas-based Kimberly-Clark Corp. to 'A+' from 'AA-', and the commercial paper rating to 'A-1' from 'A-1+'. The outlook is negative. Approximately $3.6 billion of debt and $800 million of preferred stock was outstanding as of June 30, 2007. "The downgrade is based on Kimberly-Clark's announcement that it has entered into a $2 billion accelerated share repurchase program that it will fund with debt," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Patrick Jeffrey. "This program would increase the company's expected total targeted share repurchase activity for 2007 to $2.8 billion from the previously expected levels of $600
