NY -- Standard & Poor's CreditWire 7/23/98 -- Standard & Poor's today affirmed its single-'A' corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings, as well as its 'A-1' commercial paper rating, of PepsiCo, Inc. The affirmations follow PepsiCo's announcement that it is studying conversion of a significant portion of its company-owned bottling operations to public ownership. The outlook is stable. At March 31, 1998, about $4.5 billion of total debt was outstanding at PepsiCo. While details of any proposed public ownership structure have yet to be determined, Standard & Poor's believes that management will continue to implement financial policies that will result in debt protection measures that are consistent with existing credit ratings. Depending on the structure of the bottling operation,
