Bangkok--13 Feb--Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings will be hosting a teleconference on Monday, 18 February 2008 at 4PM Sydney, 1PM SG/HK and 2PM Tokyo to discuss the agency's 2008 Utilities outlook for the Asia-Pacific region, with a focus on the emerging utility powers of China and India. Both countries are struggling with energy infrastructural issues - India has aggressive plans to expand capacity to combat widening peaking and baseload deficits, while China needs to find a balance in regional disparities in a tightening cost environment. Fitch's analysts offer their views on how this will impact the credit outlook for the year ahead. Also, the outlook for the more mature markets of Australia and New Zealand, Japan and Korea will be briefly presented during the conference. The teleconference will be hosted by Fitch's Asia Pacific energy and utilities (E&U) team: Steve Durose and Pekka Laitinen, Regional Co-heads of Energy & Utilities; Simon Wong, Director (China) and Salil Garg, Associate Director (India). Fitch's other E&U analysts from the region will also be available to answer questions. Reports related to the conference, "Asia-Pacific Utilities. Credit Outlook 2008", "Indian Power Sector - Outlook 2008" and "Chinese Power Producers Hit by Acute Coal Shortages and Spiralling Coal Prices", are available at www.fitchratings.com. Opening remarks will last approximately 30-40 minutes, after which there will be a Q&A session for interested participants. To register for this event, please contact Evon Hanip at (65) 6796 7208/ [email protected]. Instructions: Participants should dial the listed toll-free telephone access number at least 5 minutes before start time. When prompted by the Operator, the pass code is 'Fitch Ratings'. Participants will be placed in listen-only mode with music until the moderator or speaker starts the conference. Participants are advised to dial the toll free lines from an IDD-enabled fixed land line. Following are the details of the teleconference: -- Date: Monday, 18 February 2008 -- Time: 4PM AEDST; 1PM HK/SG; 2PM TOK -- Australian Toll Free: 1800 097 137 -- New Zealand Toll Free: 0800 603 458 -- Japan Toll Free: 0044 2206 2130 -- South Korea Toll Free: 00798 612 1030 -- China Toll Free: 10800 6110 114 (CNC)/ 10800 3610 134 (CT) -- Taiwan: 00801 232 383 -- Hong Kong Toll Free: 800 962 681 -- Singapore Toll Free: 800 6162 212 -- Malaysia Toll Free: 1800 181 225 -- India Toll Free: 000 800 100 6486 -- Indonesia Toll Free: 00180 3061 2084 -- Thailand Toll Free: 001800 612 1073 -- Philippines Toll Free: 1800 1612 0024 -- UK Toll Free: 0808 234 8304 -- U.S. Toll Free: 1866 888 7010 -- Call Leader: Steve Durose Replay: An archived replay of the teleconference will be available from the 'Events Calendar' on the Fitch Ratings Asia website, www.fitchratingsasia.com, from 20 February 2008. Contacts: Steve Durose, Sydney, +61 2 8256 0307/ [email protected]; Pekka Laitinen, Tokyo, +81 3 3288 2747/ [email protected]. Media Relations: Shivani Sundralingam, Singapore, Tel: + 65 6796 7215. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, 'www.fitchratings.com'. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site.