Very tough industry conditions have resulted in a significant deterioration of Sweden-based capital goods manufacturer Sandvik AB's credit measures in our view. Higher than expected volatility in profitability resulted in a revision of our assessment of the group's business risk profile to 'satisfactory' from 'strong'. We are lowering our long-term corporate credit rating on Sandvik to 'BBB', and removing all the ratings from CreditWatch with negative implications. We are affirming the 'A-2' short-term corporate credit ratings on the group. The stable outlook reflects our expectation that Sandvik's credit metrics will gradually improve and move into line with levels commensurate with the rating by 2011. On March 9, 2010, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services lowered its long-term corporate credit rating on
