On Oct. 19, 2004, Standard&Poor's Ratings Service stated that its expectations for the ratings on Cox Enterprises Inc. (CEI; BBB/Watch Neg/A-2) and its subsidiaries have not changed following today's announcement of the company's agreement to acquire minority shares of 62%-owned Cox Communications Inc. (CCI) for $34.75 cash per share. The ratings remain on CreditWatch with negative implications, where they were initially placed Aug. 2, 2004, following CEI's original proposal to acquire a minority of CCI shares for $32.00 per share, or a total of $7.9 billion cash, including fees and expenses. As previously indicated, the corporate credit rating on CEI would be lowered to 'BBB-' from 'BBB'. The senior unsecured debt of CEI would be lowered to 'BBB-'
