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To: Larry S. who wrote (42448)	8/2/2002 8:15:14 AM
From: Larry S.	Respond to of 53068

Williams: Believes Can Get To Invest-Grade, Maybe In '03 DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK -- Williams Cos. (WMB) Chief Executive Steve Malcolm told journalists Thursday that he believes the embattled energy company can return to investment-grade status, possibly as soon as next year. However, he cautioned that it would depend on many factors, including the extent of further asset sales, whether the company can sell or find a joint venture for its energy trading business, and the "evolving" outlook and financial metrics of ratings agencies. "To the extent that they have now on some level settled on some financial metric ratios, I believe we can get there, that we should be able to get back to investment-grade perhaps in 2003," Malcolm said in a call that followed immediately after an earlier call with analysts to discuss the company's $3.4 billion in new financing arrangements. Earlier Thursday, Williams announced that it has raised $1.4 billion in cash from asset sales and has obtained $2 billion in secured financing, including a $900 million secured credit agreement with a group of investors led by Lehman Brothers Inc. (LEH) and Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKA). Ratings agencies, which sent the Tulsa, Okla.-based company from investment-grade to deep into junk territory over the last couple weeks, have reacted with cautious optimism to the plan. Fitch Ratings, which has lowered its ratings to single-B-minus from triple-B in three successive downgrades, changed its review status to evolving from negative. The ratings agency said that while the new transactions have "significantly bolstered its near-term liquidity," the assets sold are solid cash-flow generators. The future directions of the company's ratings will depend on the fate of the company's trading portfolio, it added. Meanwhile, investor-compensated Egan-Jones Ratings Co., which cut its rating to single-B from double-B-minus Tuesday, changed its outlook to positive. Standard & Poor's, which rates the company's senior unsecured debt single-B, said in a conference call on the energy sector that the added liquidity is "good," but that it would have to study the longer-term implications of the deals. Moody's Investors Service, which cut Williams to B1 last week, hasn't weighed in on the company's new financial position. Meanwhile, Malcolm said Williams Cos. would be "redoubling our efforts to improve the financial strength of the company." Williams plans to save at least $200 million in costs "on a run-rate basis" and sell additional assets, he said. The company is approaching its earlier goal of boosting liquidity by $8 billion, he added, and will "probably generate double figures in terms of balance-sheet strengthening by the end of the year." Despite his "educated guess" that about 15% of the company has been sold off since it began its cash-raising efforts in January, Malcolm says the company remains "asset-rich." "We're going to sell our noncore and nonperforming assets, and we'll end up probably with a smaller company, but a stronger company from a financial standpoint," he said. Malcolm also confirmed that Williams paid off $300 million in bonds that matured Wednesday, and "is paying" $350 million in bonds maturing Thursday. As reported, trustees for both of those issues said the payments were made. Shares of Williams Cos. ended up $1.20, or 40%, at $4.15. Williams 7 1/8% notes due 2011 were up 11 1/2 points at 63 1/2 bid, 66 1/2 offered. Larry adds: nb: the bonds that matured yesterday were trading at $600-650 on Tuesday, will be paid back at $1,000 each. larry

To: Larry S. who wrote (42448)	8/2/2002 8:28:12 AM
From: Triffin	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 53068

INGR .. Event trade .. 7:24AM Intergraph Corp patents could provide a windfall (INGR) 15.60: Business Week reports that the provider of graphics software and services has turned out to be a rewarding "patent play." Jefferies analyst Jan Loeb believes that $300 mln infringement settlement by Intel opens the door for Intergraph to claim license fees, which could total hundreds of millions, from companies using Intel's Pentium processor in their systems. Jim in Ct ..