On July 5, 2007, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services lowered both the corporate credit rating on Home Depot Inc. to 'BBB+' from 'A+' and the CP rating to 'A-2' from 'A-1'. At the same time, the ratings were removed from CreditWatch where they were placed on June 19, 2007, with negative implications following the company's announced plans to use $9.5 billion of net proceeds from the sale of HD Supply and the issuance of $12 billion of senior notes and cash to finance a $22.5 billion share repurchase program. The CreditWatch resolution follows the company's approval by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to sell HD Supply to a consortium of private equity firms. The outlook is stable. The ratings on
