NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's CreditWire) Feb. 23, 2000--Standard&Poor's today placed its long-term ratings for telecommunications company SBC Communications Inc. and subsidiaries on CreditWatch with negative implications (see list below). At the same time, Standard&Poor's affirmed its short-term corporate credit and commercial paper ratings on SBC (see list). These ratings are not on CreditWatch. The CreditWatch placement follows SBC's Feb. 22, 2000, announcement that it intends to acquire unrated Sterling Commerce Inc. for cash in a transaction valued at about $3.9 billion. The increased leverage that could occur, depending on how the merger is financed, may result in a ratings downgrade. Sterling Commerce specializes in e-commerce. The company develops and manages applications that allow companies to
