NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) April 11, 2003--Standard&Poor's Rating Services today lowered its corporate credit and senior unsecured rating on electricity and natural gas distributor Aquila Inc. to 'B' from 'B+'. The ratings have also been removed from CreditWatch where they were placed with negative implications on Feb. 25, 2003. The outlook is negative. The rating actions reflect concerns resulting from the company's reliance on asset sales to reduce debt levels and projected weak cash flows from operations. At the same time, Standard&Poor's Rating Services assigned a 'B+' rating to Aquila's proposed $430 million senior secured credit facility. The issuer rating of Aquila Merchant Services Inc. was withdrawn. Kansas City, Mo.- based Aquila has about $3
