PRESS RELEASE: Fitch Corrects Ratings of City of Houston, TX's Combined Utility Sys CP Notes, Series B-4 & B-5

20th Jul 2010 20:20

The following is a press release from Fitch Ratings: Fitch Ratings-New York-20 July 2010: Fitch Ratings corrects the ratings assigned on June 8, 2010 to the City of Houston, Texas' combined utility system commercial paper notes, series B-4 and B-5. The rating assigned to the $100,000,000 series B-4 notes is corrected to 'F1+' based on the support of the Barclays Bank, PLC (Barclays) letter of credit (LOC), rather than Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, rated 'F1', as stated in the previous release. The series B-5 will not be issued by the City of Houston at this time and the rating assigned to that series will be withdrawn. The rating for the series B-4 notes will expire on the earlier of July 15, 2013, the expiration date of the Barclays LOC, unless such date is extended, or upon any prior termination of the LOC. Additional information is available on the Commercial Paper Series B Program on Fitch's website at 'www.fitchratings.com'. Applicable criteria available on Fitch's website at www.fitchratings.com: 'U.S. Municipal Structured Finance Rating Criteria', Dec. 17, 2009; 'Rating Guidelines for Commercial Paper Note Programs Issued with External Support', Nov. 11, 2009. Contact: Mario Civico +1-212-908-0796, or Trudy Zibit +1-212-908-0689, New York. Media Relations: Cindy Stoller, New York, Tel: +1 212 908 0526, Email: [email protected]. Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'. ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTP://FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEBSITE 'WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM'. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE 'CODE OF CONDUCT' SECTION OF THIS SITE. (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 20, 2010 15:20 ET (19:20 GMT)