NY -- Standard&Poor's CreditWire 1/6/1999 -- Standard&Poor's today assigned its double-'B'-minus rating to The Scotts Co.'s proposed $300 million senior subordinated notes due 2009, and placed this rating on CreditWatch with negative implications. The double-'B'-plus corporate credit and bank loan ratings for Scotts, as well as the double-'B'-minus subordinated debt rating, remain on CreditWatch with negative implications, where they were placed June 30, 1998. The initial CreditWatch placements followed Scotts' intention to buy the marketing and agency rights to the Roundup brand of herbicide products from Monsanto Co., as well as the assets of Monsanto's other consumer lawn and garden business -- principally the Ortho brand of pesticides -- for approximately $300 million. Additionally, the CreditWatch
