On June 5, 2009, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services affirmed its 'BBB+' long-term and 'A-2' short-term corporate credit ratings on Spanish utility Gas Natural SDG, S.A. At the same time, the ratings were removed from CreditWatch, where they were placed on Aug. 1, 2008, following the group's announcement of its proposed acquisition of Spanish utility Union Fenosa S.A. The outlook is negative. The rating action follows the completion of the acquisition and reflects our analysis of the enlarged group's credit profile. We believe that the acquisition has materially weakened Gas Natural's financial profile, due to its size (€15.7 billion for 95% of the capital), the consolidation of Union Fenosa's gross debt (€7.2 billion reported on March 31, 2009), increased refinancing
