S&P lowers Gold Fields

Standard & Poor's said it lowered the long- and short-term corporate credit ratings on Gold Fields Ltd. to BB+/B from BBB-/A-3.

The agency also said it lowered its long- and short-term South Africa national scale ratings to zaA/zaA-2 from zaAA-/zaA-1.

The ratings also were removed from CreditWatch, where they were placed with negative implications in October, S&P said.

The outlook is stable.

S&P also said it lowered the issue rating on its $1 billion senior unsecured notes to BB+ from BBB-. The notes have a recovery rating of 3, indicating 50% to 70% expected recovery in default.

The downgrade follows the downward revision of the company's business risk profile to fair from satisfactory, the agency said.

This reflects an opinion that South African country risk has increased for Gold Fields, S&P said, and also considers the faster pace of increase in the company's unit cash cost compared with its main peers in recent years.

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