On Dec. 12, 2007, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services kept its ratings on Montreal-based BCE Inc. and its related entities on CreditWatch with negative implications, pending the completion of the company's leveraged buyout (LBO) by a consortium of private equity investors led by Toronto-based Teachers Private Capital as announced on June 30, 2007. As a result of the proposed LBO, we expect reported debt to increase to about C$37 billion from about C$10 billion at Sept. 30, 2007. We originally placed the ratings on CreditWatch April 17, 2007. Subsequently, we lowered the ratings on BCE and its wholly owned subsidiaries to 'BB-' from 'A-' and kept them on CreditWatch Sept. 24, 2007. This was an interim step, following BCE's Sept.
