NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 8, 2006--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services assigned its preliminary 'BBB+' senior unsecured debt rating to home appliance manufacturer Whirlpool Corp.'s Rule 415 shelf registration of debt securities. (The registration includes a prior shelf registration by Whirlpool for $425 million of debt.) This rating is placed on CreditWatch with negative implications. Whirlpool's ratings, including its 'BBB+' long-term corporate credit rating and 'A-2' short-term rating, remain on CreditWatch with negative implications. The ratings were initially placed on CreditWatch with negative implications July 18, 2005, following the company's announcement that it made a proposal to acquire Maytag Corp. for $17 per share, plus the assumption of debt, for a transaction value of $2.3 billion. Then, on August
