TEXT-S&P release on Royal Utilities Income Fund

(The following statement was released by the rating agency)

May 2 - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services today said it lowered its
long-term corporate credit rating on thermal coal miner Royal Utilities Income
Fund RU_u.TO to 'BB+' from 'BBB+' after Sherritt International Corp. (not
rated) successfully acquired the remaining 59% of Royal Utilities it did not
already own. At the same time, we removed the ratings from CreditWatch, where
they were placed March 19. The lowered rating reflects Standard & Poor's
assessment, based on public information only, that Sherritt's consolidated
credit profile including Royal Utilities would be speculative grade.
Subsequently, we withdrew the ratings at the issuer's request. Neither Royal
Utilities nor Sherritt has rated debt.

Complete ratings information is available to subscribers of
RatingsDirect, the real-time Web-based source for Standard & Poor's credit
ratings, research, and risk analysis, at www.ratingsdirect.com. All ratings
affected by this rating action can be found on Standard & Poor's public Web
site at www.standardandpoors.com; select your preferred country or region,
then Ratings in the left navigation bar, followed by Credit Ratings Search.
(New York Ratings Team)