NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's CreditWire) March 21, 2000--Standard&Poor's today lowered its long-term ratings on telecommunications company SBC Communications Inc. and subsidiaries (see list below). The ratings are removed from CreditWatch where they had been placed with negative implications following SBC's Feb. 22, 2000, announcement of its intention to acquire unrated Sterling Commerce Inc. for cash in a transaction valued at about $3.9 billion. At the same time, Standard&Poor's affirmed its short-term corporate credit and commercial paper ratings on SBC (see list). These ratings were not on CreditWatch. The outlook is stable. The ratings downgrade reflects the increased leverage and business risk that will result from the SBC/Sterling Commerce merger. Sterling Commerce specializes in business-to-business e-commerce.
