On June 13, 2007, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services lowered its corporate credit rating on American Rock Salt Co. LLC (ARSC) to 'B-' from 'B'. We affirmed our senior secured rating of 'B-', the same as the corporate credit rating, and revised our recovery rating to '4' from '3'. All ratings were removed from CreditWatch, where they had been placed with negative implications on Jan. 10, 2007. That placement was due to very thin liquidity and weak operating performance stemming from the unprecedented mild weather in ARSC's upstate New York operating area. The outlook is stable. The downgrade reflects the significant increase in debt leverage associated with the company's issuance of $100 million of a privately placed floating-rate payment-in-kind (PIK)
