On May 25, 2007, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services placed 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, following the company's announced acquisition of 30.05% of Kemira GrowHow Oyj (KGH), a Finland-based fertilizer company. Yara will launch a mandatory tender offer for the remaining shares in order to fully acquire KGH. The tender offer will value KGH at _672 million on an equity value basis plus approximately _220 million in debt. The acquisition will be debt financed. The CreditWatch placement reflects that Yara's credit protection metrics will deteriorate significantly and most likely exceed the company's financial flexibility within the current rating category. Following the acquisition, and depending on
