On Sept. 5, 2002, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services assigned its preliminary triple-'B'–plus senior debt, triple-'B' subordinated debt, and triple-'B'-minus preferred stock ratings to St. Paul Cos. Inc.'s (St. Paul) universal shelf registration after St. Paul increased the shelf by $1 billion. The registration was the consolidation of St. Paul's $501 million of maximum aggregate offering capacity, which remained from the $1.001 billion shelf originally registered in October 2000 and amended in December 2001, plus the addition of $1.499 billion on July 16, 2002. In July 2002, the resulting $2 billion shelf was drawn down by $1.3 billion because of St. Paul's common stock offering of $413 million and equity units of $429.5 million. The universal shelf's net capacity of
