Guarantor Companies: Rates Long-Term Corporate Ratings

May 16, 2001

Kent Wideman, CFA, Bob Weir, CFA

Kent Wideman, CFA, Bob Weir, CFA

416-593-5577 x2235/x2236

DBRS is initiating coverage on the following issuers, by assigning long-term corporate ratings. In all cases, these companies are guarantors of Canadian issuers rated by DBRS or the holding company of the guarantor. DBRS had already analyzed these guarantors but has previously only rated the related Canadian issuers. Assigning ratings to these guarantors will clarify our rating opinions and our rating flow-through.

Issuer	Rating	Trend	Rating Action	Debt Rated
Bank of America Corporation	AA	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating � Bank of America N.A.*
Bank of America Corporation	AA (low)	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating � Bank of America Corp.*
BNP Paribas	AA (low)	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
BP p.l.c.	AA (high)	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
Caterpillar Inc.	A (high)	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
Chevron Corporation	AA	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
Costco Wholesale Corporation	A (high)	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
Credit Lyonnais	A	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
Deutsche Bank AG	AA	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
Enerprise Rent-A-Car Company	A (low)	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
Exxon Mobil Corporation	AAA	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
Ford Motor Credit Company	A (high)	Negative	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
General Mills	A (low)	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
General Motors Acceptance Corp.	A	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
H & R Block, Inc.	A	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
Heller Financial, Inc.	A (low)	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
The Hertz Corporation	A (low)	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
Honda Motor Co., Ltd.	A	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
Household International, Inc.	A	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
HSBC Holdings plc	AA (low)	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
John Hancock Financial Serv. Inc.	AA (low)	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
MBNA America Bank, N.A.	A (low)	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.	AA (low)	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
ORIX Financial Services, Inc.	BBB	Negative	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
Pitney Bowes Inc.	AA	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
Rabobank Group	AAA	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
Rio Tinto Group	AA	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
Ryder System, Inc.	A (low)	Negative	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
Texaco Inc.	A (high)	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
Textron Inc.	A	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
Toyota Motor Corporation	AAA	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
Volkswagen AG	A (high)	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*
Wells Fargo Financial, Inc.	AA (low)	Stable	New Rating	Corporate Rating*

*The corporate rating represents the highest rating achievable on a company�s most senior debt, if issued.

Ratings

Issuer	Debt Rated	Rating Action	Rating	Trend	Published
Exxon Mobil Corporation	Corporate Rating	New Rating	AAA	Stb	May 1, 2001
Rabobank Group	Corporate Rating - Long-Term Debt	New Rating	AAA	Stb	May 16, 2001
Toyota Motor Corporation	Issuer Rating	New Rating	AAA	Stb	May 16, 2001
BP p.l.c.	Issuer Rating	New Rating	AA (high)	Stb	May 1, 2001
Bank of America N.A.	Deposit & Senior Debt	New Rating	AA	Stb	May 16, 2001
Chevron Corporation	Corporate Rating	New Rating	AA	Stb	May 1, 2001
Deutsche Bank AG	Corporate Rating - Long-Term Deposits & Senior Debt	New Rating	AA	Stb	May 16, 2001
Pitney Bowes Inc.	Issuer Rating	New Rating	AA	Stb	May 16, 2001
Rio Tinto Group	Issuer Rating	New Rating	AA	Stb	May 16, 2001
Bank of America Corporation	Issuer & Senior Debt	New Rating	AA (low)	Stb	May 16, 2001
BNP Paribas	Corporate Rating	New Rating	AA (low)	Stb	May 16, 2001
HSBC Holdings plc	Issuer Rating - Long-Term	New Rating	AA (low)	Stb	May 16, 2001
John Hancock Financial Services, Inc.	Issuer Rating	New Rating	AA (low)	Stb	May 16, 2001
Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.	Issuer Rating	New Rating	AA (low)	Stb	May 16, 2001
Wells Fargo Financial, Inc.	Issuer Rating	New Rating	AA (low)	Stb	May 16, 2001
Caterpillar Inc.	Issuer Rating	New Rating	A (high)	Stb	May 16, 2001
Costco Wholesale Corp.	Issuer Rating	New Rating	A (high)	Stb	May 16, 2001
Ford Motor Credit Company	Corporate Rating	New Rating	A (high)	Neg	May 16, 2001
Texaco, Inc.	Corporate Rating	New Rating	A (high)	Stb	May 1, 2001
Volkswagen AG	Issuer Rating	New Rating	A (high)	Stb	May 16, 2001
Credit Lyonnais	Corporate Rating	New Rating	A	Stb	May 16, 2001
General Motors Acceptance Corporation	Long-Term Debt	New Rating	A	Stb	May 16, 2001
H & R Block, Inc.	Issuer Rating	New Rating	A	Stb	May 16, 2001
Honda Motor Company, Limited	Issuer Rating	New Rating	A	Stb	May 16, 2001
Household International, Inc.	Corporate Rating	New Rating	A	Stb	May 16, 2001
Textron Inc.	Corporate Rating	New Rating	A	Stb	May 16, 2001
Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company	Issuer Rating	New Rating	A (low)	Stb	May 16, 2001
General Mills, Inc.	Issuer Rating	New Rating	A (low)	Stb	May 16, 2001
Heller Financial, Inc.	Issuer Rating	New Rating	A (low)	Stb	May 16, 2001
Hertz Corporation, The	Issuer Rating	New Rating	A (low)	Stb	May 16, 2001
MBNA America Bank, N.A.	Issuer Rating	New Rating	A (low)	Stb	May 16, 2001
Ryder System, Inc.	Corporate Rating	New Rating	A (low)	Neg	May 16, 2001
ORIX Financial Services, Inc.	Corporate Rating	New Rating	BBB	Neg	May 16, 2001