The ratings on Cleco Corp. 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, exposure to cyclical industrial load, and some expected moderation in the company's merchant generation exposure. Pineville, La.-based Cleco had $1.24 billion of adjusted debt as of Sept. 30, 2009. Cleco Power is Cleco's largest subsidiary, serving about 276,000 customers, mainly in western and central Louisiana, a service territory with mostly below-average
