We are lowering our corporate credit rating on Protection One, a U.S. provider of electronic security alarm services, to 'B' from 'B+'. We are also assigning a preliminary 'B+' issue rating with a preliminary recovery rating of '2' to the company's $25 million senior secured revolving credit facility and $520 million first-lien term loan. The company intends to use the proceeds to repay existing debt as well as to pay a dividend to existing shareholders, with leverage increasing from about 5.0x to about 6.5x as a result. The stable outlook reflects our expectation that the company will demonstrate improved credit metrics over the next year through moderate revenue and EBITDA growth. NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) March 7, 2012--Standard&
