On May 31, 2005, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services placed its 'AA-' long-term and 'A-1+' short-term counterparty credit ratings on leading Italian bank UniCredito Italiano SpA and subsidiary Unicredit Banca Mobiliare SpA on CreditWatch with negative implications. At the same time, the 'A+' long-term and 'A-1' short-term counterparty credit ratings on leasing subsidiary Locat SpA were also placed on CreditWatch with negative implications. The action follows news of UniCredito's possible takeover of Germany's third-largest banking group, Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank AG (HVB; A-/Watch Pos/A-2). The negative CreditWatch implications reflect the potentially unfavorable impact on UniCredito of the acquisition of financially weaker HVB. No further information has been made available at this time. Standard&Poor's will continue to monitor the
