Thursday, September 11, 2008

S&P: Astoria Financial Corp. Rating Unaffected By Freddie Mac Write-Down


NEW YORK, NY--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services says there are no ratings implications for Astoria Financial Corp. (Astoria; BBB/Stable/--) in light of the company's disclosure that it will likely need to take an other-than-temporary impairment charge on its Freddie Mac preferred securities in third–quarter 2008.

As of June 30, 2008, Astoria owned Freddie Mac preferred stock with a book value of $83.7 million. We expect that the write-down will be a substantial portion of the securities' book value, given the elimination of dividends and sharp decline in market value for these securities.

Further, we expect that Astoria may post a small net loss during for the third quarter as a result of the write-down. However, we believe that capital levels will be affected only slightly in the third quarter. The stable ratings outlook on Astoria includes the assumption that capital levels will stabilize or rebound in the subsequent few quarters through retained earnings.

Media Contact:

Jeff Sexton, New York, (1) 212-438-3448, jeff_sexton@standardandpoors.com

Analyst Contacts:
Barbara Duberstein, New York (1) 212-438-5656
Vikas Jhaveri, New York (1) 212-438-3693

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