In October 2007, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services placed its ratings on Jacksonville, Fla.-based Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) on CreditWatch with negative implications following the company's announcement that it would spin off its lender processing division into a separate, public company. FIS is expected to contribute the unit's assets to a new subsidiary in exchange for all of the unit's common stock and about $1.6 billion of debt securities. Following regulatory approval, FIS will distribute all of the new company's common stock to FIS shareholders in a tax-free spin-off. Completion of the possible spin-off is expected to occur in mid-2008. The CreditWatch revision to developing (in April 2008) reflects the company's good operating performance in its transaction processing
