The ratings on Klépierre S.A. primarily reflect its leading position in retail property management and development in Europe, as well as its presence in the prime Paris office real estate market. The ratings also take into account the company's more aggressive financial profile following the acquisition of French food retailer Carrefour S.A.'s European shopping malls in January 2001. With a property portfolio market value of about €4 billion following the acquisition of Carrefour's European shopping-malls, Klépierre is now the fourth-largest player in the French property market and ranks 12th in Europe. Twenty percent of the company's assets--all retail property--are outside its French home market, mainly in Spain and Italy but also increasingly in Eastern Europe (the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and
