On Jan. 5, 2007, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services affirmed its 'BB' corporate credit rating for New York, N.Y.-based commercial weight-loss service provider Weight Watchers International Inc. (WWI). At the same time, all WWI ratings were removed from CreditWatch, where they were placed with negative implications on Dec. 20, 2006, reflecting WWI's increasingly aggressive financial policy following the company's announcement that it plans to launch a "modified Dutch auction" self-tender offer for up to 8.3 million shares of its common stock at a price range between $47.00 and $54.00 per share. At the same time, Standard&Poor's assigned its 'BB' rating to the company's proposed $700 million term loan A-1 and $500 million term loan B, with a recovery
