We view the likelihood of Hon Hai Precision buying shares in Sharp as high, but we also believe the agreement of both companies is likely to come after repayment of Sharp's syndicated loans comes due on March 31, 2016. We see an extremely low likelihood that Sharp can fulfill on its own its obligations on credit facilities and syndicated loans by the due date, and we think fulfillment of these obligations is increasingly likely to take a form we define as 'SD' (selective default). We are lowering to 'CCC' from 'CCC+' our long-term credit rating on Sharp and are placing the rating on CreditWatch with negative implications. We are also placing our 'CCC+' long-term issue rating and 'C' short-term corporate
