On April 9, 2009, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services placed its 'A/A-1' credit ratings on Italy-based toll road operator Autostrade per I'Italia SpA (ASPI) and its 100% owner, Atlantia SpA, on CreditWatch with negative implications. The CreditWatch placement reflects our increasing concerns that Atlantia's credit-protection metrics might not be strong enough to support an 'A' rating. We believe Atlantia's debt burden could increase on the back of sluggish operating cash-flow generation and a large fixed-investment program, leading to ongoing deterioration of financial ratios. Supporting the ratings on Atlantia are the expected smaller decline in traffic on Atlantia's roads than those of most of its peers and the tariff mechanism, which provides some resilience in the current recessionary environment. However, the
