On Feb. 22, 2007, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services lowered its long-term corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings on privately–owned agribusiness company Cargill Inc. and related entities, and removed the ratings from CreditWatch negative. The long-term corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings were lowered one notch, to 'A'. At the same time, Standard&Poor's affirmed its short-term corporate credit and commercial paper ratings on the company. The outlook is stable. Minnetonka, Minn.-based Cargill had about $13.5 billion of total debt (adjusted for capitalized operating leases and pension and postretirement obligations and merchandising inventories) outstanding at Nov. 30, 2006. The downgrade reflects the increase in debt at the company over the last several years, and the continued importance
