Fitch’s revised criteria report for rating corporate CDOs wasreleased on April 30, 2008. Fitch’s rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available onthe agency’s public site, Published ratings, criteria andmethodologies are available from this site, at all times. Ares CSOII gains access to the credit risk of the 74 obligors in the portfolio via acredit default swap with Deutsche Bank AG London (rated ‘F1+/AA-’ and on WatchNegative by Fitch), as swap counterparty. Ares CSO II’s portfoliois comprised of primarily non-investment grade corporate obligations. Ares CSO II is a synthetic collateralized debt obligation (CDO) that matures inSeptember 2010 and is managed by Ares Management, LLC.

This compares with credit enhancementlevels of 25% for the series B-1 notes and 15.8% for the series G notes. Assets with a Fitch derived rating in the ‘CCC’ bucket or below comprise 34.9%of the portfolio, with 7.1% rated ‘D’. Currently, 32.8% of theportfolio has a Negative Outlook, with an additional 6.1% on Watch Negative. In addition, 48.4% of thereference portfolio has experienced negative credit migration since February2009, including 7.1% with ratings downgraded to ‘D’. Since theprevious rating action in February 2009, the notes have suffered a 2.3% decreasein credit enhancement due to trading losses and exposure to credit events onEquistar Chemical and Smurfit-Stone Container. The Negative Watch status reflects Fitch’s view that the credit risk of thenotes is worsening given the deterioration in the reference portfolio. The following six classes issued by Ares CSO II remain on Watch Negative: –$2,000,000 series E-1 notes ‘A+’; –$4,500,000 series 2E-1 notes ‘A+’; –JPY1,000,000,000 series E-2 notes ‘A+’; –JPY100,000,000 series 2E-2 notes ‘A+’; –$11,700,000 series G notes ‘BBB+’; –$11,070,000 series 2G notes ‘BBB+’.

In addition, Fitch has removed the Stable Rating Outlooks on the class B-1,2B-1, B-2, 2B-2 and B-3 notes and removed the Negative Rating Outlooks on theclass C, 2C, D, 2D-1 and 2D-2 notes. CHICAGO–(Business Wire)–Fitch Ratings has placed 10 classes of notes issued by Ares High Yield CSO IIPLC (Ares CSO II) on Rating Watch Negative as follows: –$20,000,000 series B-1 notes ‘AAA’; –$45,500,000 series 2B-1 notes ‘AAA’; –EUR25,000,000 series B-2 notes ‘AAA’; –JPY500,000,000 series 2B-2 notes ‘AAA’; –$5,000,000 series B-3 notes ‘AAA’; –$3,000,000 series C notes ‘AA+’; –$5,000,000 series 2C notes ‘AA+’; –$4,000,000 series D notes ‘AA’; –$10,500,000 series 2D-1 notes ‘AA’; –JPY300,000,000 series 2D-2 notes ‘AA’. This legally binding treaty will be completed by the end of this year.”(Compiled by Amie Ferris-Rotman, Alfred Kueppers, Gleb Bryanski and Denis Dyomkin; Editing by Charles Dick) World Barack Obama Russia North Korea. We have signed a joint understanding for a follow-on treaty on the START agreement which will reduce our warheads and delivery systems by up to a third from our current treaty limitations. Quite the contrary, it is aimed at solving a number of strategic tasks.