On July 30, 2007, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services kept its 'BBB+' long-term and 'A-2' short-term corporate credit ratings on Norway-based fertilizer company Yara International ASA on CreditWatch with negative implications, where they were placed on May 25, 2007, following the company's announced acquisition of 30.05% of Kemira GrowHow Oyj (KGH), a Finland-based fertilizer company. Standard&Poor's plans to lower the ratings to 'BBB' and 'A-3', respectively, on completion of the transaction--for a total consideration of about $1.2 billion--which is scheduled for the end of the third quarter of 2007 subject to EU regulatory approval. We expect to assign a negative outlook. The lower rating following completion of the transaction will reflect the deterioration in Yara's credit metrics as
