Moody's cuts Basell notes to junk

Moody's Investors Service said it lowered the ratings for the senior unsecured notes of Basell America Finance Corp. and Basell Finance Co. BV to Ba2 from Baa3 and continues to review the ratings for possible further downgrade.

The lowering of the ratings is prompted by the announcement by BASF and Shell to sell their 50-50 joint venture Basell to a consortium led by New York-based Access Industries together with The Chatterjee Group.

This reflects the opinion previously expressed by Moody's that without the benefits accruing from its two current strong shareholders, the rating characteristics of Basell were not commensurate with an investment-grade level.

Moody's said this recognizes the improvement in operating performance reported by Basell in fiscal 2004, reflecting better trading conditions and benefits from restructuring initiatives.

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