NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) July 9, 2003--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it affirmed its ratings (see list below) on apparel manufacturer VF Corp. The outlook is stable. Greensboro, N.C.-based VF has about $1 billion in rated debt. The ratings affirmation follows the company's recent announcement that it had signed a definitive merger agreement to acquire Nautica Enterprises Inc. (unrated) for $17.00 per share in cash. In addition, VF will pay about $14.6 million (net of taxes) to cash out Nautica's employees stock options for total consideration of approximately $585.6 million. Also, VF has entered into a separate agreement with David Chu, vice chairman of Nautica and chief designer of the Nautica brand, to acquire Mr. Chu's
