On Dec. 5, 2005, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services revised its outlook on France-based Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A. (Saint-Gobain) to negative from stable, following the company's announcement that it had acquired 86% of the capital of BPB PLC (BBB+/Negative/A-2), after its recommended £3.9 billion (€5.9 billion) cash offer on the latter's equity (£4.4 billion or €6.5 billion enterprise value). At the same time, Standard&Poor's affirmed its 'BBB+/A-2' corporate credit ratings on Saint-Gobain and assigned its 'BBB+' long-term issue rating to Saint-Gobain's €9 billion senior unsecured syndicated credit facilities put in place for the financing of the acquisition, refinancing of outstanding debt at the target and at Saint-Gobain, and other general corporate purposes. With sales of €16.8 billion over
