Standard&Poor's placed its ratings on Eastman Chemical Co. on CreditWatch with negative implications on Feb. 5, 2001. The CreditWatch listing follows Eastman's announcement that it will pursue a plan that will split its businesses into two separate publicly traded companies. Eastman will complete the transaction through a tax-free distribution to existing shareholders, in order to separate its specialty chemicals and plastics business from the more commodity-like PET, polyethylene, and acetate fibers units. Standard&Poor's anticipates that both companies will be established with financial profiles consistent with investment-grade ratings. However, the CreditWatch listing acknowledges that Eastman maintains a relatively heavy debt burden for the existing ratings and that any segregation of the current businesses will result in a
