S&P Lowers Ratings on Ford-Related Synthetic Deals

    NEW YORK--Standard & Poor's--Oct. 17, 2001--Standard & Poor's today lowered its ratings on Preferred PLUS Trust Series FRD-1 and CorTS Trust For Ford Debentures following the recent downgrade of Ford Motor Co. (Ford), and removed them from CreditWatch with negative implications, where they were placed on Aug. 23, 2001.
    The lowered ratings reflect the downgrade on Ford and its related entities (as of Oct. 15, 2001) and Standard & Poor's concerns about the long-range profit potential of Ford, in light of secular deterioration in industry fundamentals.
    The two synthetic deals whose ratings are now being lowered are swap-independent synthetic transactions that are weak-linked to the underlying collateral, Ford debt. The revised ratings reflect the credit quality of the underlying securities issued by Ford.

OUTSTANDING RATINGS LOWERED AND REMOVED FROM CREDITWATCH NEGATIVE

Preferred PLUS Trust Series FRD-1
$50 Million corporate bond-backed certs

   Rating
To       From

BBB+     A/Watch Neg

CorTS Trust For Ford Debentures
$300 million corporate bond-backed certs

   Rating
To       From

BBB+     A/Watch Neg