LA-based CB Richard Ellis, one of the world's largest commercial real estate firms, announced earlier this week that it is weighing a $15.50-per-share buyout offer from Blum Capital Partners LP, which already owns about 38% of the company's stock. Privately held Blum Capital includes a number of current CB Richard Ellis executives and directors, among them CEO Ray Wirta and Brett White, the company's "Chairman of the Americas."

When a company on S&P's CreditWatch list is given a "negative" designation, it means that the rating may be lowered in the future. S&P currently has assigned a B+ rating to CB Richard Ellis' subordinated debt. Its long-term counterparty credit rating is BB.

Though S&P noted that CB Richard Ellis is undertaking a series of cost-cutting measures, it said the company's current debt levels remain high and that its debt-coverage ability hasn't improved since the brokerage company's ratings outlook was first changed to negative in August 1999. Much of that debt was taken on as part of the firm's aggressive expansion efforts in the '90s, the credit-rating company said.