NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Aug. 26, 2005--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today affirmed its ratings, including the 'BBB/A-2' corporate credit ratings, on Precision Castparts Corp. following the announcement of the planned acquisition of Special Metals Corp. (SMC) for $540 million in cash. The outlook is stable. "We expect Precision Castparts to maintain an appropriate overall financial profile following the pending acquisition, despite a modest increase in leverage," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Christopher DeNicolo. SMC is a leading supplier of high-performance nickel-based alloys, which are used in Precision Castparts' forging operations, and had about $475 million in revenues in the six months ending June 30, 2005. The acquisition will be funded with cash on hand and existing credit
