PARIS (Standard&Poor's) July 2, 2002--Standard&Poor's said today that the ratings and outlook on France-based multi-utility Vivendi Environnement S.A. (VE, triple-'B'-plus/Stable/'A-2') are not affected by Vivendi Universal S.A.'s (VU, BBB-/Watch Neg/A-3) considerably increased credit risk, given that VU no longer has majority control over VE and should see its stake diminish further in the future. Following VU's sale of a 15% stake in VE at end-June 2002, its interest has decreased to 48% from 63%. Standard&Poor's expects further dilution of VU's share to 41% in the coming month, as a result of VE's announced €1.5 billion capital increase, which has been fully underwritten by a group of highly rated French financial institutions. "VE's independence is
