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CORRECTED - S&P says may downgrade Volvofinans credit ratings

In LONDON story headlined "S&P says may downgrade Volvofinans credit ratings", please read in first paragraph "...a unit of U.S. automaker Ford..." not "Swedish automaker Volvo AB" as misreported earlier.

A corrected version follows.

LONDON, Oct 22 (Reuters) - AB Volvofinans, a unit of U.S. automaker Ford, had its BBB long-term and A-2 short-term counterparty credit ratings put under review for a possible downgrade on Wednesday by Standard & Poor's.

The rating agency said in a statement it had put the ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications following the CreditWatch placement on Tuesday of the firm's ultimate owner, Ford Motor Co and related entities.

"The CreditWatch listing reflects S&P's concerns about Ford's ability to achieve a more satisfactory overall financial performance amid intensifying competition in the North American and European auto markets, particularly given the lack of success the company has encountered in turning around its European operations, and considering that Ford Motor Credit Co.'s earnings could moderate over the next year from recent record levels," said S&P analyst Per Tornqvist.

S&P said it was unlikely that the ratings on Volvofinans will be lowered below investment grade as a result of the current review. It said Volvofinans had 23.5 billion Swedish crowns ($3.04 billion) of debt outstanding at June 30, 2003.