On Oct. 13, 2008, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services lowered its long-term corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings on the hotel operator Grupo Posadas S.A.B. de C.V. to 'BB-' from 'BB'. The long-term local scale rating was also lowered to 'mxA-' from 'mxA'. All ratings have been placed on CreditWatch with negative implications. The rating actions reflect Grupo Posadas' exposure to derivative instruments related to foreign-exchange swaps, which have recently resulted in mark-to-market losses. The rating action also reflects the company's financial policy, which has proven to be more aggressive than we expected. On Oct. 10, the company reported a $37.7 million mark-to-market loss related to these instruments. Although the notional amount of the company's cross-currency swaps is manageable
