Standard & Poor's responded quickly to St George shareholders approving the merger of their bank with Westpac, by equalising the credit ratings assigned to St George with those assigned to Westpac i.e. 'AA/Stable/A-1+'. Although the ratings on St George's captive mortgage insurer were left unchanged at 'A+/Watch Pos' while the position of the insurer within the merged group is considered.Moody's Investor Service, on the other hand, announced that it will equalise the ratings of St George with those of Westpac (Aa1/Stable/P1) when the merger formally takes place 1 December 2008. The rating assigned to the mortgage insurance business will be affirmed at 'Aa3'.However, in a negative twist, Moody's said its Bank Financial Strength Rating of 'B' with direction uncertain, will be put on review for possible downgrade. Moody's is concerned that St George may experience a prolonged period of capital and/or liquidity weakness relative to its parent.  Fitch Ratings has fallen into line with the other rating agencies (S&P moved more than a month ago) and lowered its issuer default and senior unsecured debt ratings on LeasePlan Corporation NV to 'A-'  from 'A' and revised the outlook to negative from stable. The short-term unsecured debt rating was also lowered to 'F2' from 'F1'.(S&P lowered its ratings to 'A-/A-2' and revised the outlook to negative while Moody's hasn't lowered its 'A3' long term rating yet but it is on review for possible downgrade.)Fitch's rating action was driven by a weaker earnings outlook due to increased residual value and customer credit risks in a rapidly deteriorating economic and operating environment and a recent weakening in access to short-term money markets. Fitch does not rate LeasePlan's Australian subsidiary.Property group Stockland announced it had acquired a 12.7 per cent stake in rival, GPT Group, on Wednesday, prompting S&P to issue a bulletin stating that the 'A-/Stable/A-2' credit ratings assigned to Stockland were not immediately affected by the move. The investment would have no material effect on Stockland's gearing ratio or other key credit measures.In an unrelated announcement, S&P said it had affirmed the 'BBB' long-term credit rating assigned to GPT Group and had raised the short-term credit rating to 'A-2' from 'A-3' and revised the long-term rating outlook to stable from negative. The short-term rating assigned to GPT had been placed on CreditWatch with positive implications on October 23 after GPT had said it hoped to raise at least $1.3 billion in ordinary equity plus $250 million in hybrid capital and that it had successfully renegotiated the group's look-through gearing covenant to 55 per cent, from 50 per cent, on its European syndicated debt facility. As it was, GPT raised only $1.06 billion of equity, which will be used to repay debt and meet capital expenditure requirements into 2010.Commenting on Stockland's actions in relation to GPT, S&P said the investment would have no immediate impact on the GPT credit ratings but any increase would indicate ambition to exert some control over GPT, the implications of which would have to be reviewed.In April 2006, Queensland-based