On Nov. 10, 2004, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services affirmed its 'BBB' corporate credit ratings on Cleco Corp. and subsidiary Cleco Power LLC. The outlook is negative. The ratings affirmation follows the announcement that Cleco Corp. intends to issue 1.75 million shares of common stock. Pineville, La.-based Cleco Corp. has about $1 billion in debt. Standard&Poor's views the equity issuance as a signal of continued focus on core utility operations and debt reduction. Still, credit measures remain weak for the current rating and the company remains challenged as it struggles to resolve unregulated power issues. Efforts to sell a merchant plant have faced persistent delays, and a dispute with a tolling counterparty threatens to reduce cash flow from
