NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's CreditWire) June 16, 1999--Standard&Poor's today placed its ratings on nine Wal-Mart Stores Inc.-related credit lease transactions on CreditWatch with negative implications (see list below). The CreditWatch placement is in conjunction with Wal-Mart's CreditWatch placement. The action follows Wal-Mart's announcement of an agreement to acquire Asada Group PLC for $10.8 billion in cash (see June 14, 1999, press release) In the credit leases deals, the transactions are collateralized by mortgages secured by properties that are leased to Wal-Mart. The rating is based on the lease payments from Wal-Mart, which are used to pay the debt service on the certificates. Even though the credit lease transactions also benefit from first mortgage liens on commercial properties,
