LONDON (Standard&Poor's CreditWire) May 3, 2000--Standard&Poor's today placed its triple-'A' long-term corporate credit and senior unsecured ratings and its 'A-1'-plus short-term corporate credit and commercial paper ratings on Unilever PLC, Unilever N.V., and related entities on CreditWatch with negative implications. (See list below for all ratings affected.) The CreditWatch placement of Unilever group ratings reflects uncertainties about the amount of debt that Unilever might raise to finance the proposed acquisition of U.S.-based Bestfoods. Depending on the amount of debt, the long-term ratings on Unilever group companies could fall by more than one category, but it is unlikely that the short-term ratings would fall below 'A-1'. At the same time, Standard&Poor's placed its ratings on
