On Oct. 15, 2007, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services placed its 'A+' corporate credit and senior unsecured ratings on Washington, D.C.-based Danaher Corp. on CreditWatch with negative implications following the announcement that Danaher would acquire Beaverton, Ore.-based Tektronix Inc. for net cash proceeds of about $2.8 billion. At the same time, Standard&Poor's affirmed Danaher's 'A-1' CP rating. Standard&Poor's anticipates that a potential lowering of Danaher's ratings will be limited to one notch. The acquisition of Tektronix is expected to be funded primarily with debt and will result in increases in financial leverage to levels above what is expected for Danaher at the current rating level. Furthermore, Standard&Poor's anticipates that, while Danaher has substantial free
