MELBOURNE (Standard&Poor's CreditWire) March 24, 2000--Standard&Poor's today lowered its long-term corporate credit rating on Telecom Corp. of New Zealand Ltd. (TCNZ), as well as its ratings of TCNZ Finance Ltd.'s guaranteed senior unsecured debt issues, to single-'A'-plus from double-'A'. At the same time, TCNZ's short-term rating was downgraded to 'A-1' from 'A-1'-plus, and the ratings on Telecom New Zealand Finance Ltd.'s capital notes were downgraded to single-'A'-minus from double-'A'-minus. An single-'A'-plus/A-1' rating also was assigned to TCNZ Finance Ltd.'s US$1 billion Euro medium-term note program. The rating action reflects the company's higher-risk business profile and more aggressive financial profile following TCNZ's NZ$1.6 billion debt-funded acquisition of an 80% interest in AAPT Ltd., Australia's third-largest telecommunications company.
