LONDON (Standard&Poor's CreditWire) April 12, 2000--Standard&Poor's today affirmed its triple-'A' long-term and its 'A-1'-plus short-term ratings on Unilever PLC, Unilever N.V., and related entities. The outlook is stable. (Please call Standard&Poor's Ratings Desk on (44) 20-7826-3540, or see RatingsDirect, Standard&Poor's Web-based credit analysis system, for all affirmed ratings.) The affirmations follow today's announcements that Unilever has agreed to purchase U.S.-based Slim.Fast Foods Co. for US$2.3 billion in cash and Ben&Jerry's Homemade Inc. for US$326 million in cash. Slim.Fast manufactures and sells nutritional supplement and weight management products, mainly in the U.S., and had sales of US$610 million and operating profit of US$125 million in the year ended November 1999. It
