NY -- Standard&Poor's CreditWire 3/23/98 -- Standard&Poor's today assigned its double-`B'-minus rating to Calpine Corp.'s $200 million of senior unsecured notes due 2008. In addition, Standard&Poor's affirmed Calpine's double-`B'-minus corporate credit rating and senior unsecured notes rating. The outlook is stable. Calpine expects to use the proceeds of the offering to refinance existing debt, including some non-recourse debt, and for general corporate purposes. The rating reflects the following risks: -- That Calpine's already highly leveraged capitalization has increased from about 76% to 79.7% on a pro forma basis, thus marginally decreasing financial flexibility; -- Cash balances have dropped to US$48.5 million from about US$96 million in 1996 -- although a US$50 million revolver, which
