On Oct. 25, 2007, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services placed its ratings, including the 'BB' corporate credit rating, on Jacksonville, Fla.-based Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) on CreditWatch with negative implications. The CreditWatch listing follows FIS's announcement that it plans to spin-off its lender processing division into a separate, public company. FIS will contribute the unit's assets into a new subsidiary in exchange for all of its common stock and about $1.6 billion of debt securities. Following regulatory approval, FIS will distribute all of the new company's common stock to FIS shareholders in a tax-free spin-off. Completion of the possible spin-off is expected to occur in mid-2008. The spin-off will reduce both business diversity and cash flow, as the
