On Oct. 12, 2012, we lowered the long-term foreign and local currency ratings on the Republic of South Africa to 'BBB' and 'A-', respectively. The outlook remains negative. In accordance with our criteria for government-related entities, we are lowering to 'BBB' from 'BBB+' our long-term foreign and local currency corporate credit ratings on South African power utility ESKOM Holdings SOC Ltd. (ESKOM). The 'b' stand-alone credit profile on ESKOM remains unchanged and reflects ESKOM's "fair" business risk profile and "highly leveraged" financial risk profile. The negative outlook on ESKOM reflects that on South Africa, and our view that a downgrade of the sovereign would likely result in a downgrade of ESKOM. LONDON (Standard&Poor's) Oct. 17, 2012--Standard&Poor's
