The ratings on Cleco Corp. (Cleco) reflect the company's excellent business risk profile and aggressive financial risk profile. Cleco owns Cleco Power LLC, a regulated electric utility, and Cleco Midstream Resources LLC, a merchant generation subsidiary. Cleco's excellent business risk profile incorporates the company's efforts to achieve generally supportive regulatory outcomes in its rate case filings, satisfactory operations, a service territory with modest customer growth and average to below-average demographics combined with exposure to cyclical industrial load, some construction risk relating to the completion of RPS 3, and some expected moderation in the company's merchant generation exposure. Pineville, La.-based Cleco had $1.23 billion of adjusted debt as of June 30, 2009. Cleco Power is Cleco's largest subsidiary, serving about 276,000
