Standard&Poor's Ratings Services equalizes its rating on French public hospital group, Assistance Publique - Hopitaux de Paris (AP-HP), with its long-term sovereign rating on the Republic of France (AAA/Stable/A-1+, unsolicited). This reflects our view that there is an "almost certain" likelihood that the French state would provide timely and sufficient extraordinary financial support to AP-HP in the event of financial distress. We consider AP-HP to be a government-related entity (GRE). Under our criteria for rating GREs, we base our rating approach on our view of AP-HP's: "Critical role" for the French state, given its unique position in the French health care system as the country's (and Europe's) largest hospital. AP-HP is also France's biggest university medical center and
