MELBOURNE (Standard&Poor's) Oct. 18, 2011--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it had lowered its long- and short-term corporate credit ratings, and debt issue ratings, on Australian-based engineering and construction company Leighton Holdings Ltd. to 'BBB-/A-3', from 'BBB/A-2'. The ratings were also removed from CreditWatch with negative implications, where they were placed on April 12, 2011. The outlook is stable. "The downgrade reflects our assessment that the group's business risk profile has moderately weakened, following sizable losses incurred from two Australian construction projects and the write-down on the company's Habtoor Leighton Group (HLG) Middle East investment," Standard&Poor's credit analyst Craig Parker said. "These project losses will also contribute to a weakened financial profile in the
