Fitch revises the Rating Outlook on five gas prepaid revenue bond transactions to Negative from Stable, while affirming their ratings at 'AA-'. The rating action follows Fitch's revision to Negative from Stable in the Rating Outlook for Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., due to the severity of losses generated from Merrill Lynch's fixed income business in 3Q07. Merrill Lynch & Co, Inc. is a guarantor of the gas supplier in each series of gas prepaid bonds. The Outlook revision applies to the following series of bonds:
--Main Street Natural Gas, Inc. Gas Project Revenue Bonds, Series 2006B;
--Main Street Natural Gas, Inc. Gas Project Revenue Bonds, Series 2007A;
--Clarksville Natural Gas Acquisition Corp. Gas Revenue Bonds, Series 2006;
--Roseville Natural Gas Financing Authority Gas Revenue Bonds, Series 2007A;
--Long Beach Bond Finance Authority Natural Gas Purchase Revenue Bonds, Series 2007A & 2007B.
The long-term ratings and Outlook on the bonds is determined by Fitch's assessment of their structure and the entities involved in each transaction, including Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (Issuer Default Rating [IDR] 'AA-'). In each case, bond proceeds were used to fund a natural gas prepay transaction between the issuer and Merrill Lynch Commodities, Inc. (the supplier).
For additional details regarding each of the transactions, please see the corresponding reports available on the Fitch Ratings web site www.fitchratings.com:
--Main Street Natural Gas, Inc. Gas Project Revenue Bonds, Series 2006B -Dec. 20, 2006, report titled 'Main Street Natural Gas Inc.';
--Main Street Natural Gas, Inc. Gas Project Revenue Bonds, Series 2007A - Sept. 4, 2007, press release titled 'Fitch Rates Main Street Natural Gas';
--Clarksville Natural Gas Acquisition Corp. Gas Revenue Bonds, Series 2006 - July 30, 2007, report titled 'Credit Update: Natural Gas Acquisition Corporation of the City of Clarksville, Tenn';
--Roseville Natural Gas Financing Authority Gas Revenue Bonds, Series 2007A - Feb. 27, 2007, report titled 'Credit Analysis: Roseville Natural Gas Financing Authority, Calif.';
--Long Beach Bond Finance Authority Natural Gas Purchase Revenue Bonds, Series 2007A & 2007B -Sept. 12, 2007, report titled 'Long Beach Bond Finance Authority'.
For additional details regarding the Outlook change on Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., please see the press release dated Oct. 5, 2007, titled, 'Fitch Affirms Merrill Lynch's Ratings; Outlook to Negative' also available on www.fitchratings.com.
Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, 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.