On Oct. 27, 2008, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services lowered its long-term corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings on Spanish and Latin American gaming group Codere S.A. to 'B+' from 'BB-' and placed them on CreditWatch with negative implications. The existing recovery rating of '3' on the senior unsecured debt of Codere Finance (Luxembourg) S.A. remains unchanged. The one-notch downgrade reflects Codere's aggressive financial profile and a probable shortfall in achieving target leverage ratios (after consolidating the payment-in-kind {PIK} financing of almost €400 million) at year-end 2008. In addition, the company faces threats to earnings from growing currency depreciation risks (particularly in respect of Argentine and Mexican Peso earnings which comprised 64% of first-half 2008 EBITDA and which are
