On March 2, 2009, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services lowered its long-term and short-term corporate credit ratings on Sweden-based tools and mining equipment manufacturer Sandvik AB to 'A-/A-2' from 'A/A-1'. The ratings were removed from CreditWatch where they were placed with negative implications on Feb. 12, 2009. The outlook is stable. At the same time, we affirmed the 'K-1' Nordic national scale rating on the company, which was not on CreditWatch. The downgrade reflects our view that Sandvik's financial performance is not commensurate with an 'A' rating, and the expectation that it will not materially improve in the near term. Our expectation is based on a negative revision of our financial base-case scenario, which in turn is based on our
