Standard&Poor's on Sept. 4, 2001, affirmed its ratings on Liberty Media Corp. and removed them from CreditWatch where they were placed with negative implications on Feb. 23, 2001, after the company announced its increased investment in United Globalcom Inc. (UGC) and its initial plan to acquire six of nine German regional cable TV companies owned by Deutsche Telekom AG (DT). The rating actions were based on Liberty's financing plans for the €5.5 billion (about $5.1 billion) DT transaction including €1.5 billion (about $1.39 billion) of Liberty common equity and $2.6 billion of asset monetization ; the gross asset value of its investment portfolio relative to gross debt; the liquidity benefits of its hedging practices and debt structure; and
