NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Jan. 15, 2008--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it lowered its long-term counterparty credit rating on MoneyGram International to 'BB' from 'BBB'. The rating will remain on CreditWatch Negative, where it was placed on Dec. 13, 2007. "The downgrade follows MoneyGram's announcement that it has experienced significant, additional unrealized losses on its float investment portfolio, bringing cumulative net unrealized losses to $860 million as of Nov. 30, 2007," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Rian Pressman. As the company moves to restructure its Payment Systems business and the associated float investment portfolio, these losses, which heretofore have been recorded as adjustments to shareholder's equity, will be realized. Given that the realized loss on
